Jorunn Buckley begins her book 1800 Years of Encounters with Mandaeans with a bold claim right in the first sentence. “The Mandaean religion can be traced back to the 1st century, directly related to John the Baptist” (p.ix). I am not sure why the next statement is to concede that this “is not the regular scholarly view” since so few scholars have made this a focus of their attention. Buckley, on the other hand, has dedicated her life to the study of this tradition, and her conclusion should carry appropriate weight....The book is Jorunn Jacobsen Buckley, 1800 Years Of Encounters With Mandaeans (Gorgias, 2023).
The "review" is actually an AI digest of Professor McGrath's full review in Review of Biblical Literature, which is behind the subscription wall. Welcome to 2026!
James McGrath is also an expert on the Mandeans and on John the Baptist. For more on Professor Buckley's work, see here and links. Cross-file under Mandean (Mandaean) Watch.
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