The Manichaean Story of Adam and Eve

Abstract According to Mani in his Epistula Fundamenti , many stories have been told about Adam and Eve, but only his version is correct and leads to salvation. This article first explores various Jewish and Christian narratives and ideas about the first humans with which Mani likely engaged. It then shows how he radicalized Gnostic accounts to proclaim the fundamental role of violent, demonic sexuality in the creation of Adam and Eve, as a counter-strategy to prevent the release of trapped light, in support of his strongly anti-reproductive ethic. Finally, it analyzes Mani’s story of the first human generations as an implicit critique of Zoroastrian anthropogonic narratives which provided an etiology for next-of-kin marriage. Mani’s dialogue with these different traditions situates him at the Roman-Sasanian frontier, engaging with Jewish and Christian teachings, as well as Iranian ones, and resisting simplistic genealogies, whether heresiological or scholarly. Indeed, Mani functions as an interpreter ( hermeneutes ) between Mediterranean and Iranian cultures: Manichaean doctrine and practice do not represent a final flowering of Gnosticism, nor a fundamentally Iranian system, but a new movement that weaves Christian, Gnostic, Zoroastrian, and other traditions in complex and unexpected ways, combining his foundational critique of sexual reproduction with a hopeful call for struggle against the darkness.