Find:
		News Release: New light on rival religion's 'cosmic' Jesus Date 16/2/04 No 031/04 A new book presents, for the first time in English, a coherent picture of the Jesus worshipped within a religion that once rivalled Christianity itself. Jesus in the Manichaean Writings, published in the UK by T&T Clark, shows how the various "Jesus figures" in these writings represent different aspects of the one divine/human being. The author of the book, Majella Franzmann, after studying all the available Manichaean texts, concludes that there is an underlying unity to the radically different "Jesus figures" portrayed in them. Professor Franzmann, Convener of the Studies in Religion program at the University of New England, draws this conclusion after surveying the six "Jesus figures" that previous authors have distinguished in the writings. These are: Jesus the Splendour (a cosmic figure), Jesus the Apostle, Jesus the Judge (at the Last Day), the mortal/suffering or immanent Jesus, Jesus the Youth (or "the Child"), and Jesus the Moon (a symbol of divinity). While it is not difficult to see several of these as aspects of the one figure, there has always been a problem, Professor Franzmann says, in reconciling the truly "cosmic" figure in some of the writings with that of the Jesus who is capable of suffering. "As recently as five years ago I would have said that there were two figures, and that you couldn't reconcile them," she says. Since then, however, she has researched the idea of the suffering of cosmic figures, and feels that such a reconciliation is not only possible, but necessary for a deeper understanding. Her integrated view of the Manichaean Jesus is in line with that of the German scholar Eugen Rose, whose 1937 dissertation (published in 1979) draws a similar conclusion. "It's interesting that, after a very different process, I've come full circle to the same conclusion that Rose did," Professor Franzmann says. Manichaeism, founded in Persia by Mani in the 3rd century AD, saw itself as the truly universal religion destined to clarify and unify previous "partial" revelations, including those of Zoroaster, the Buddha and Jesus. It quickly spread throughout the Persian and Roman Empires, and eventually extended as far as eastern China, where it was a living religion until at least the 16th century. The texts Professor Franzmann has studied were originally written in the Coptic, Middle Persian, Turkish, Parthian, Sogdian and Chinese languages. "There's a much narrower focus on 'cosmic' aspects of the Manichaean Jesus than we find with the Christian Jesus in the theology of those early centuries," she says. "For example, his historical mission to Palestine was only one of the missions the Manichaean Jesus was said to have carried out. Another was his coming down to the world to give knowledge to Adam and Eve." Professor Franzmann is an international authority on the portrayal of Jesus in the "heresies" that rivalled the Catholic Church throughout the first five or six centuries of its existence. Research she conducted while holding an Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship at the University of Tubingen in Germany in 1992-93 resulted in her first book, Jesus in the Nag Hammadi Writings (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1996). The von Humboldt Foundation has continued its support of her research and has invited her, as the only Australian representative, to present a paper at an international conference in South Africa later this year. Media contact: Professor Majella Franzmann, School of Classics, History and Religion, UNE, Armidale (02) 6773 3406 or Jim Scanlan, Public Relations, UNE, Armidale (02) 6773 3049. A photograph of Professor Franzmann is available for download.

		Student Enquiry Form | Alumni | Library | Staff Phonebook | Search | Index | Employment | Principal Dates | Computing | Policies | Access to Expertise | Webmail
		Created and maintained by Jo Philp. Last revised: 25 February 2004 Email:publicity@metz.une.edu.au © 2000 University of New England Armidale, NSW, 2351. All rights reserved.