In Mandaeism, the Book of John (Classical Mandaic: ࡃࡓࡀࡔࡀ ࡖࡉࡀࡄࡉࡀ, romanized: Drāšā ḏ-Yaḥyā) is a sacred text written in Mandaic Aramaic. Mandaeans believe this book was created by their prophet, John the Baptist.

The text includes stories about John’s life and his miracles. It also describes debates between John and Jesus, as well as writings where a figure named Anush Uthra (Enosh) performs miracles similar to those of Jesus in Jerusalem. The book was created in the 7th century, shortly after the Muslim conquest of Persia. It was made by combining older texts written many years earlier. The first complete English translation of the book was published by Gelbert & Lofts in 2017. The first academic critical edition in English was published by Häberl & McGrath in 2020.

Translations

In 1915, a German translation titled Das Johannesbuch der Mandäer was published by Mark Lidzbarski. In 2021, another German translation of chapters 18–33 (called the "Yahya–Yuhana" chapters) was published by Gabriele Mayer.

In 2020, Charles G. Häberl and James F. McGrath released a complete English translation of the Mandaean Book of John. This version was printed together with Mandaic text that was typeset by Ardwan Al-Sabti. In 2017, another English translation was published by Carlos Gelbert and Mark J. Lofts.

Manuscripts

Archived manuscripts of the Mandaean Book of John that Western scholars have studied include:

Several pages from two manuscripts stored at the British Library contain sections of the Mandaean Book of John.

Jorunn Jacobsen Buckley has examined three manuscripts that are owned by Mandaeans in the United States.

In Ahvaz, Iran, a copy of the Book of John exists. This version has Mandaic text written on lead plates. It originally belonged to Abdullah Khaffagi and was viewed by Jorunn Jacobsen Buckley in 1973.

In 2004, Salah Choheili completed a copy of the Book of John. The ending section of this copy was translated into English by Gelbert & Lofts in 2017.

In the early 1900s, E. S. Drower wrote down the "Soul Fisher" chapters (36–39) from Sheikh Negm bar Zihrun.

Dating

The chapters in the book are organized by their content, not by the time they were written. The entire book may have gone through five stages of editing, meaning different chapters could have been written at different times. The current version of the Mandaean Book of John was not written earlier than the time of the Islamic conquests. In terms of language, parts of the book that reflect the Islamic era are found in its later stages of writing and editing.

The name "John" appears in the text as Yohannā or Yahyā. Yohannā was used before the rise of Islam, while Yahyā is the name found in the Quran. However, besides the name Yahyā and a few other Arabic names, there is no clear influence of the Arabic language in the Book of John. It is possible that the book used references to John and his role as a prophet to help establish the Mandaean community as a "People of the Book" during the Islamic era. More recently, the focus on John the Baptist and criticism of Jesus in the book have been linked to religious interactions during the Islamic period.

Chapter 11 (which also contains the most recent language in the book) mentions the "end of the Age of Mars," which matches June 4, 678 in the Mandaean calendar. This suggests the chapter was written in 678 or later. Chapters 18 and 27 refer to "Dome of the Priests," which might be a reference to a Muslim dome (qubba), such as the Dome of the Rock built in 691, or a Zoroastrian dome (gumbad).

Other clues help determine the dates of other chapters. For example, some scholars believe chapter 30 was written after the 4th century because it includes words like "follis" and "crux," which are from Latin. These terms fit better after Latin Christianity became the main religion of the Roman Empire. However, since there is no Arabic influence or references to Islamic material, it may have been written before Islam. A recent study found an Arabic word, "rumaia" (meaning "Roman"), in chapter 30, which suggests it was written during the Islamic era. Chapter 43 includes information about the Second Temple and its priests, which only fits the first century. This means the material is from that time, though it is unclear how it was included in the Book of John.

Contents

The Book of John contains 76 chapters (or sections). By default, the chapter titles from Gelbert & Lofts (2017) are used, which are based on titles from Lidzbarski (1915). Alternative titles from Häberl and McGrath (2020) are also provided in square brackets. The contents include:

Chapters 19–33 begin with the phrase:

"Yahya teaches in the nights, and Yuhana [teaches] in the evenings of the night."

This phrase is written in Aramaic as: Iahia dariš b-liluia Iuhana b-ramšia ḏ-lilia.