Uygur Manichaean Texts, Volume III : Ecclesiastical Texts

de Larry Clark

"The re-edition of Uygur Manichaean texts was produced primarily for the purpose of compiling an Uygur-English Manichaean Dictionary of these texts. The task from the outset was to re-examine only those texts previously published or in some way meaningfully mentioned in published edutions of texts. "These texts classified as Liturgical (L), which are included in the present volume, always have as their framework or main theme some aspect of the conduct of services, rituals, liturgies, or worship, whether it be the acts of confession of sins or a related ritual (LC), or the performance of hymns of praise (LH) and prayers of praise or appeal (LP) by individuals or within congregations engagd in private or public rituals. No sustained attempt has been made to assign texts to one or survived of what appear to have been service books (like the Iranian 'Prayer and confession book', M801) that would have provided a structure for suporting such judgments. Nonetheless, certain texts retain some narrative portions of liturgies, including several texts connected with the other segments belonging to unidentified rituals." -- From Introduction.