II. Modern Works.
Isaac de Beausobre (b. 1659 in France, pastor of the French church in Berlin, d. 1738):
Histoire Crit. de Manichée et du Manichéisme, Amst. 1634 and ’39, 2 vols. 4to. Part of the
first volume is historical, the second doctrinal. Very full and scholarly. He intended to
write a third volume on the later Manichæans. F. Chr. Baur: Das Manichäische Religions-
7
system nach den Quellen neu untersucht und entwickelt, Tüb. 1831 (500 pages). A compre
hensive, philosophical and critical view. He calls the Manich. system a "glühend prächtiges
Natur-und Weltgedicht." [An able critique of Baur’s work by Schneckenburger appeared
in the "Theol. Studien u. Kritiken," 1833, p. 875 sq. Schneckenburger strives to make it appear
that Baur unduly minifies the Christian element in Manichæism. Later researches have
tended to confirm Baur’s main position. The Oriental sources employed by Flügel and
Kessler have thrown much light upon the character of primitive Manichæism, and have
enabled us to determine more precisely than Beausobre and Baur were able to do the con-
stituent elements of Mani’s system. A.V. Wegnern: Manichæorum Indulgentiæ, Lips. 1827.
Wegnern points out the resemblance between the Manichæan system, in accordance with
which the "hearers" participate in the merits of the "elect" without subjecting themselves to
the rigorous asceticism practiced by the latter, and the later doctrine and practice of indul-
gences in the Roman Catholic church.] Trechsel: Ueber Kanon, Kritik und Exegese der
Manichäer, Bern, 1832. D. Chwolson: Die Ssabier und der Ssabismus, Petersb. 1856, 2 vols.
G. Flugel: Mani, seine Lehre und seine Scriften. Aus dem Fihrist des Abî Jakub an-Nadîm
(987), Leipz. 1862. Text, translation and commentary, 440 pages. [Of the highest value, the
principal document on which the work is based being, probably, the most authentic expos-
ition of primitive Manichæan doctrine.] K. Kessler: Untersuchungen zur Genesis des Manich.
Rel. Systems, Leipz. 1876. By the same: Mânî oder Beiträge zur Kenntniss der Religionsmi-
schung im Semitismus, Leipz. 1887. See also his thorough article, Mânî und die Manichær,
in "Herzog," new ed. vol. IX. 223–259 (abridged in Schaff’s "Encyclop." II. 1396–1398).
[Kessler has done more than any other writer to establish the relation between the
Manichæans and the earlier Oriental sects, and between these and the old Babylonian reli-
gion. The author of this introduction wishes to express his deep obligation to Kessler. The
article on the "Mandäer" in "Herzog," by the same author, is valuable in this connection,
though his attempt to exclude all historical connection between this Babylonian Gnostic
sect and Palestine can hardly be pronounced a success. J. B. Mozley: Ruling Ideas in Early
Ages; lecture on "The Manichæans and the Jewish Fathers," with special reference to Au-
gustin’s method of dealing with the cavils of the Manichæans.] G. T. Stokes: Manes and
Manichæans, in "Smith and Wace," III. 792–801. A. Harnack: Manichæism in 9th ed. of
the "Encycl. Britannica," vol. XV. (1883), 481–487. [Also in German, as a Beigabe to his
Lehrbuch d. Dogmengeschichte, vol. I. p. 681 sq. Harnack follows Kessler in all essential
particulars. Of Kessler’s article in "Herzog" he says: "This article contains the best that we
Modern Works.
10
Modern Works.