title: Manichaeism: An Ancient Faith Rediscovered
author: Nicholas J. Baker-Brian
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zlib_text: THE FOUNDER OF MANICHAEISM
  Mani, a third-century preacher, healer and public sage from Sasanian
  Mesopotamia, lived at a pivotal time and place in the development of
  the major religions. He frequented the courts of the Persian Empire,
  debating with rivals from the Judaeo-Christian tradition, philoso-
  phers and gnostics, Zoroastrians from Iran and Buddhists from India.
  The community he founded spread from north Africa to south China
  and lasted for over a thousand years. Yet the genuine biography of its
  founder, his life and thought, was in good part lost until a series of
  spectacular discoveries have begun to transform our knowledge of
  Mani’s crucial role in the spread of religious ideas and practices along
  the trade routes of Eurasia. This book utilises the latest historical and
  textual research to examine how Mani was remembered by his
  followers, caricatured by his opponents, and has been invented and
  reinvented according to the vagaries of scholarly fashion.
    is Professor 