Shining Names, Living Waters - Mandaean Prophets, Archetypes, and the Purity of Non-Law

This paper explores the unique prophetic tradition of the Mandaeans, the last living Gnostic community, emphasizing their preference for archetypal names over binding legal codes. Unlike Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, which structure life around law, the Mandaeans glorify luminous figures — Adam as primal light-bearer, Hibil Ziwa as redeemer, Shitil and Anosh-Uthra as mediators of knowledge, and John the Baptist as guardian of baptism and truth.

Rather than legislating conduct, these prophets function as archetypes: shining examples who offer models of purity, wisdom, and fidelity without coercion. Mandaean scripture (the Ginza Rabba, Book of John) portrays earthly laws as divisive and corrupting, while baptism and remembrance of names sustain purity and peace. Their closed, family-bound identity has preserved them for centuries without conquest, proselytization, or institutional expansion.

The study situates Mandaean prophetology in contrast with Abrahamic law traditions, arguing that their refusal of law is not absence but brilliance: a vision of faith as archetypal imitation, not legal obedience. By glorifying names instead of rules, the Mandaeans remain a “garden of the pure,” a luminous testimony that religion can endure without coercion, radiant with peace and purity.