Jorunn Jacobsen Buckley

Jorunn Jacobsen Buckley
Born	Jorunn Jacobsen 1944 Norway
Citizenship	American Norwegian
Occupation	Professor
Spouse	Thomas Buckley
Children	Jesse Buckley
Academic background
Alma mater	University of Chicago Divinity School(Ph.D., 1978)
Thesis	SpiritRuhain Mandaean Religion(1978)
Academic work
Institutions	Bowdoin College
Main interests	Mandaeism History of religion

Jorunn Jacobsen Buckley(bornJorunn Jacobsen,1944) is a Norwegian-Americanreligious studiesscholar andhistorian of religionknown for her work onMandaeismandGnosticism.She was a former Professor of Religion atBowdoin College.She is known for translating theScroll of Exalted Kingshipand otherMandaean texts,as well as for her various books on theMandaean religionandpeople.Her interests include Mandaeangenealogyand anthropology.

Education

Jorunn Jacobsen Buckley was born in Norway. She began her undergraduate studies during the 1960s. As an undergraduate student, she studied psychology, philosophy, and Ancient Greek, and eventually became interested inGnosticismandMandaeism.In 1971, she went to theUniversity of Uppsalaand then studied briefly at theUniversity of Utrecht.She also visitedIranin 1973 to conduct fieldwork on the Mandaeans. In 1975, she began her doctoral studies at theUniversity of Chicago Divinity Schooland received a Ph.D. in 1978.Her doctoral thesis was titledSpiritRuhain Mandaean Religion.

Career

Buckley has conducted fieldwork twice inIran,in 1973 and 1996, as well as among Mandaean diaspora communities around the world. She has regularly collaborated with Mandaic scholars such asKurt RudolphandRudolf Macúch.

For most of her career, Buckley was a professor atBowdoin College,a private liberal arts college inBrunswick, Maine.

Buckley is also known for her work as a legal witness in Mandaean immigration asylum claims. In 1995, theExecutive Office for Immigration Reviewof the U.S. Department of Justice certified Buckley as an expert witness on the Mandaeans.

Affiliations

Buckley is a member of:

• American Academy of Religion
• Society of Biblical Literature

Conferences

Buckley has presented at all of the ARAM International Conferences specifically dedicated toMandaean studies:

• ARAM 13th International Conference (13-15 June 1999),Harvard University(withmasbutasperformed in theCharles RiverbySalah ChoheiliandTaleb Doragi,withSalem Choheiliand his brother assisting asshgandas). A 52-minute film of the 1999 ARAM conference masbuta,which was compiled from 9 hours of raw footage, was made by Buckley's stepson Jesse Buckley.
• ARAM 17th International Conference (7 July 2002),The Oriental Institute,University of Oxford(with masbutas performed in theRiver Thames)
• ARAM 24th International Conference (8-10 July 2007),Sancta Sophia College,University of Sydney(with masbutas performed in theNepean RiveratPenrith)
• ARAM 27th International Conference (9-11 July 2009),The Oriental Institute,University of Oxford
• ARAM 36th International Conference (8-9 July 2013),The Oriental Institute,University of Oxford

Personal life

Jorunn Buckley was married toThomas Buckley,an Americananthropologistwho died in 2015.

Her stepson, Jesse Buckley, is a video editor.

Selected publications

Books

A selection of books authored by Buckley:

• Female Fault and Fulfilment in Gnosticism.Chapel Hill:University of North Carolina Press,1986.
• The Mandaeans: Ancient Texts and Modern People.New York:Oxford University Press,2002.
• The Great Stem of Souls: Reconstructing Mandaean History.Piscataway, NJ:Gorgias Press,2005.
• Drower's Folk-Tales of Iraq.Piscataway, NJ:Gorgias Press,2007.
• LadyE. S. Drower's Scholarly Correspondence: An Intrepid English Autodidact in Iraq.Leiden:Brill,2012.
• 1800 Years of Encounters with Mandaeans.Piscataway, NJ:Gorgias Press,2023.

Articles

Selected journal articles authored by Buckley:

• "The Mandaean Šitil as an Example of ‘the Image Above and Below.’"Numen26, no. 2 (1979): 185–91.
• "Two Female Gnostic Revealers."History of Religions19, no. 3 (1980): 259–69.
• "The Mandaean TabahataMasiqta."Numen28, no. 2 (1981): 138–63.
• "Mani’s Opposition to theElchasaites:A Question of Ritual. "InTraditions in Contact and Change: Selected Proceedings of the XIVth Congress of the International Association for the History of Religions,edited by P. Slater and D. Wiebe, 323–36. Waterloo, Ontario: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 1983.
• "A Rehabilitation of SpiritRuhain Mandaean Religion. "History of Religions22, no. 1 (1982): 60–84.
• "Tools and Tasks:ElchasaiteandManichaeanPurification Rituals, "Journal of Religion66, no. 4 (1986): 399–411.
• "Mandaean Religion." InThe Encyclopedia of Religion,vol. 9, edited by M. Eliade, 150–53. New York: Macmillan, 1987.
• "Conceptual Models and Polemical Issues in theGospel of Philip."InAufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt,pt. 2, 25, 5, edited by H. Temporini and W. Haase, 4167–94. Berlin: de Gruyter, 1988.
• "A Study of the Two Liturgical Collections inJ. de Morgan’sTextes Mandaïtes."Le Muséon104, vols. 1–2 (1991): 191–203.
• "The Colophons in TheCanonical Prayerbook of the Mandaeans."Journal of Near Eastern Studies51, no. 1 (1992): 33–50.
• "The Mandaean Appropriation of Jesus’ Mother,Miriai."Novum Testamentum35, no. 2 (1993): 181–96.
• "Libertines or Not: Fruit, Bread, Semen and Other Body Fluids in Gnosticism,"Journal of Early Christian Studies2, no. 1 (1994): 15–31.
• "A Mandaean Correspondence." InGnosisforschung und Religionsgeschichte: Festschrift fürKurt Rudolphzum 65. Geburtstag,edited by Holger Preissler and Hubert Seiwert, 55–60. Marburg: diagonal-Verlag, 1994.
• "The Colophons inH. Petermann’sSidra Rabba."Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society,3d ser., 5, no. 1 (1995): 21–38.
• "With the Mandaeans in Iran."Religious Studies News11, no. 3 (1996): 8.
• "Professional Fatigue: ‘Hibil’s Lament’ in theMandaean Book of John."Le Muséon110, fasc. 3–4 (1997): 367–81.
• "Glimpses of a Life: Yahia Bihram, Mandaean Priest."History of Religions39, no. 1 (1999), 32–49.
• "The Evidence for Women Priests in Mandaeism."Journal of Near Eastern Studies59, no. 2 (2000): 93–106.
• "A Re-Investigation of The Book of John."ARAM16 (2004): 13–23.
• Review ofThe Mandaeans: The Last Gnostics,byEdmondo Lupieri.Journal of the American Academy of Religion71 (2002): 220–23.
• "Hibil's Lament from The Book of John," inThe Gnostic Bible,edited by Willis Barnstone and Marvin Meyer, 555–60. Boston: Shambhala, 2003.
• "A Mandaean Appropriation of Jesus' Mother Miriai." InA Feminist Companion to Mariology,edited by Amy-Jill Levine, 182–93. London: T & T Clark, 2005.
• "Mandaean Community in Iran." InEncyclopaedia Iranica,edited by Ehsan Yarshater. New York: Columbia University, MEALAC–Center for Iranian Studies, 2005.
• "Turning the Tables on Jesus: The Mandaean View." InA People's History of Christianity,edited by Richard Horsley, vol. 1: Christian Origins, 94–109. Philadelphia: Fortress, 2005.

See also

• Charles G. Häberl
• James F. McGrath
• E. S. Drower

External links

• Faculty pageatBowdoin College