Studies in The Sermon on the Great War: Investigations of a Manichaean-Coptic Text from the Fourth Century.

• Author: Desjardins, Michel

This book focuses on a thirty-five-page text which forms the second of four parts of a Coptic manuscript belonging to the Chester Beatty Library, first edited in 1934 by H. J. Polotsky under the title Manichaische Homilien (Stuttgart: W. Kohlhammer). Pedersen, under the expert guidance of his Doktorvater, Soren Giversen, is preparing a new critical edition of the entire manuscript. Studies in The Sermon on the Great War, with minor modifications, was his 1993 doctoral dissertation (Aarhus University).

The Sermon on the Great War (SGW) is eschatological in nature but not apocalyptic in form. Like each of the preceding Jewish and Christian eschatologically oriented works, this one offers an elaborate scenario that is both predictable ("we live in the end times, our sufferings will get worse, the forces of good will prevail in a final battle, the faithful will be rewarded while the persecutors and apostates will suffer eternal damnation") and distinctive ("following the Great War the faithful will rule the world, and they will also enjoy a second peaceful reign on earth with Jesus, after he judges all of humanity").

Pedersen is particularly concerned with the social context out of which SGW emerged and in which it functioned. His curiosity is heightened by aspects of the text which appear to run counter to typical Manichaean beliefs - e.g, why long for an earthly "kingdom" when real hope lies in the dissolution of everything corporeal? Why condemn some people to eternal damnation when the loss of even one soul means a diminution of the divine? Why include a long series of "weepings" over Mani's death when the thought of death should bring to mind the redemption of the soul? He finds a partial answer in what he sees as the author's pastoral concerns. Likely written by one of Mani's disciples under the impact of Zoroastrian persecutions, the text is intended to console and discipline a suffering community. In the context of a general persecution of the Manicheans, he argues, one can understand the psychological and social frustrations that would demand an earthly time when the persecuted could enjoy peace and domination over others and expect their persecutors to be severely punished. Pedersen also finds a liturgical setting which clarifies the situation. Likely written to be read aloud during the bema festival, an occasion when Mani's death was remembered and his presence most strongly felt, SGW made Mani's suffering exemplary and his presence...