Manichean Angels: A Study of Angelology and Its Associated Concepts in Manicheism

This book, organized into six parts, eight post-scripts, and two addenda, is a pioneering work that extensively utilizes 56 primarily manuscript works of supplication and magic from the Turpan collection, along with Manichean and non-Manichean Greek, Coptic, Turkish, and Chinese sources. Its objective is to identify at least thirty angels and explore the aspects of angelology within the Gnosticism established by Mani in third-century CE Sassanid Iran.

This work demonstrates that while Manichean angelology incorporated many components from preceding religions and traditions, redefining them within its new framework, it ultimately formed an independent system. Remarkably, this system has endured and continues to be preserved in China, serving as the final bastion of Manicheism