Biography

Dr. Ionut Daniel Bancila studied Orthodox Theology at the University of Sibiu (Romania) from 2001 to 2007. He received his PhD from the Humboldt University of Berlin in 2015. 

From 2017 to 2020, he was a research associate at the Institute for Religious Studies at the University of Erfurt. There he conducted research in the research project "Orthodox Christianity and Esotericism". 

Project Abstract

In the ancient world it was the task of astrology to account for synchronicities between planetary trajectories or conjunctions and the events of the sub-lunar world. 

Mandean astrology invested much effort in charting the planetary imprints evidenced in the various physical, intellectual and moral dispositions of men and women, thus rendering them as embodied expressions of the determining astrological synchronicities active at their birth. 

My contribution to the yearly topic of the Einstein Center Chronoi ("synchronicity") concerns the exploration of the Mandaean sense of embodied astrological synchronicity as evidenced in the astrological treatise Aspar d-kukbia, describing the various intellectual, moral or physical dispositions of men and women born under the influences of different planets. Along with a critical edition of the text, based on three manuscripts, a lexicographic and religio-historical commentary of the Mandaean treatise is intended.

Curriculum vitae

2017 - 2020 

Post-Doc Scientific Researcher at the Institute for the Science of Religion, University of Erfurt, for the Research Project "Orthodox Christianity and Esotericism", funded by the Fritz-Thysen Stiftung

2009 - 2015 

Doctoral Candidate at the Evangelical Theological Faculty of the Humboldt University in Berlin. Topic of research: "The Mandaean religion and the Aramaic roots of Manichaeism"

2005 - 2007

MA in Orthodox Theology at the Theological Faculty of the University of Sibiu (Romania)

2001 - 2005

Study of Orthodox Theology at the Theological Faculty of the University of Sibiu (Romania)

Selected Publications

Die mandäische Religion und der aramäische Hintergrund des Manichäismus. Forschungsgeschichte, Textvergleiche, historisch-geographische Verortung, Wiesbaden, 2018 [reviewd by Antonio Panaino, in: Biblica 100 (2019), 473-476; D. Durkin-Meisterernst, in: BiOr 77 (2020), 657-660; B. Burtea, in: OLZ 116(2021), 226-228]. 

"Die mandäische »dualistische Formel« und der manichäische »Dualismus«. Ein Beitrag zum aramäischen Hintergrund des Manichäismus", in: [D. Durkin-Meisterernst et alii (Hrsg.)], Zur lichten Heimat. Studien zu Manichäismus, Iranistik und Zentralasienkunde im Gedenken an Werner Sundermann, Wiesbaden, 2017, 19-38. 

"Eine Aufgabe der vergleichenden Mandäistik: die Edition der mandäischen astrologischen Traktate”, in: Archaeus. Études d'histoire des religions 19-20 (2015-2016), 311-316. 

"Die Stellung der mandäischen Version des 114. Psalmes in Qolasta [mandäisches Hymnenbuch]. Eine semantische Kontextualisierung", in: R. Voigt (Hrsg.), »Durch Dein Wort ward jegliches Ding!«. 2. Mandäistische und samaritanistische Tagung,  Wiesbaden, 2013, 3-44. 

"Aus der Mandäismusforschung in Berlin", in: Studia Asiatica 11 (2010), 323-333.