Professor of the Comparative Study of Religions Dr. Jason BeDuhn will present an invited public lecture, “Rethinking Asceticism through the Example of the Manichaeans” at The Catholic University of America on Oct. 11, 2023.
Abstract: Manichaeans and Christians share many ascetic practices and common ideals of the disciplined, perfected body. Yet the respective motivations and purposes of these ascetic regimes differ significantly between the two traditions, calling into question whether they belong to a common “asceticism” of late ancient religious culture. Manichaeans situate ascetic disciplines in relation to ritual preparation and efficacy, placing the ascetic specialist in continuity with the rule-bound lives of ancient priests as mediators of the sacred. Have we underestimated such ritual connections in Christian and other ascetic traditions?