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Title: Mandaean-Sethian Connections
Author(s): BUCKLEY, Jorunn J.
Journal: ARAM Periodical
Volume: 22    Date: 2010   
Pages: 495-507
DOI: 10.2143/ARAM.22.0.2131051

Abstract :
In pursuing the topic of possible connections between the Mandaean Šitil and Sethianism I focus on baptism, not on the kinds of materials usefully gathered and explored in Mark Lofts’ article Mandaeism-the sole Extant Tradition of Sethian Gnosticism (this volume, p. 31-59). First, then, I ask where Šitil occurs in Mandaean baptism contexts, both in the Lightworld baptism settings, and in earthly, material ones. Second, I explore how these baptism contexts may be compared to evidence in Sethian Nag Hammadi texts such as The Gospel of the Egyptians, Tripartite Protennoia, and The Apocalypse of Adam. Scholars treated here include John Turner, Birger Pearson, and Hans-Martin Schenke. Third, I critique the theories of J.-M. Sevrin, in his 1986 book on Sethian baptism materials.

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