Of all the world religions, Manichaeism was the first one to be born as such. There have been, at different stages of its history, Manichaean communities from the Balkans and North Africa to China; the religion of light, as it called itself, remained active for over a thousand years. Throughout most of its history, Manichaeism, the most radical dualistic religion ever to have existed, has been persecuted by religious competitors and political authorities. Of the different world religions, Manichaeism remains, by far, the least well-known. To some extent this is due to the problem of the sources: most often these were the polemical texts of its enemies (Augustine is, by far, the most famous of them). Until a hundred years ago or so, we possessed very few primary Manichaean sources. Since then, however, the situation has changed in some radical ways, thanks primarily to a great number of texts, found in different languages, from Sogdian and Middle Persian to Uïgur, Coptic and Greek, and coming mainly from Turfan and from the Fayum. Our knowledge of Manichaeism as a full-fledged religion, endowed with rituals and a liturgy as well as with some central myths and a radical dualist theology, has been dramatically increased thanks to these discoveries. However, the technical difficulties in studying this religion (stemming mainly from the great variety of languages involved: Iranian languages, Coptic, Syriac, Greek, Latin, Arabic, Uïgur and Chinese) are partly responsible for the lack of introductory and synthetic works on Manichaeism.

The book under review renders a major service in fulfilling such an urgent desideratum. In clear language, buttressed by his mastery of the texts and of the bibliography, Baker-Brian has written a very impressive introduction to Manichaeism, with a sharp understanding of the history of scholarship and of the main points of contention between scholars. The author inserts intelligently significant quotations of sources into his discussion. In particular, he presents Manichaean origins within the context of a valuable discussion of religious syncretism. The book is divided into four main chapters, dealing with the sources, Mani's books, the explicit theology, and the theology implicit in rituals and community. I know of only one other scholarly contemporary introduction to Manichaeism, that of Michel Tardieu, published in French in 1981, and translated into English in 2008. The book under review is by far superior. Its author must be congratulated.