How Manichaean Was Mani? The Evidence of Mani’s Living Gospel

The Manichaean tradition credits Mani as a recipient of revelation that undergirds the entire Manichaean religious system. A relatively uncritical, secularized and historicized version of that account has thrived in the history of religions field, treating Mani as a “genius” who “deliberately established a religion.” More critical views have been articulated recently from within Manichaean studies, confronting the relative lack of Mani’s ipsissima verba in what survives of Manichaean literature. Addressing very reasonable doubts about Mani’s role in shaping later Manichaeism, this study brings forward new evidence and arguments that Mani can be securely credited with formulating and presenting in his Living Gospel the core mythic narrative that appears as the common denominator of all identifiable expressions of the Manichaean religion.