Bogdan Burtea | |
---|---|
Born | |
Citizenship | Romanian |
Occupation | Researcher |
Academic background | |
Alma mater | Free University of Berlin |
Doctoral advisor | Rainer Voigt and Kurt Rudolph |
Academic work | |
Main interests |
Bogdan Burtea is a Romanian religious studies scholar and Semiticist currently based in Germany. [1] His main interests are Mandaic, Aramaic, [2] and Ethiopic studies.
Bogdan Burtea was born in Romania. [3]
In 1999, Burtea obtained his Master's degree in Semitic Studies and Religious Studies, with a focus on History of Religions, at Free University of Berlin after graduating with a bachelor's degree from the same university. He then became a research assistant at the Seminar for Semitic and Arabic Studies at the Free University of Berlin, which was chaired by Rainer Voigt. He obtained his doctorate in Semitic Studies at the Free University of Berlin in 2003, with his dissertation supervised by Rainer Maria Voigt and Kurt Rudolph. [4]
After graduation, in 2004, Burtea became a research assistant at the Department of Islamic Studies at the University of Erfurt, where he worked on the research project "The Influence of Globalization and Regionalization Processes in the History of the Eastern Church on the Emergence, Spread and Early Development of Islam in the 6th and 7th Centuries". [4]
From 2011 to 2016, he was a research assistant at the Department of Religious Studies of the University of Zurich, where he worked on a research project relating to Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity that was funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation. [4]
From 2004 to 2011, he was a research assistant at the Seminar for Semitic and Arabic Studies at the Free University of Berlin, where he worked on several Mandaic textual translation projects funded by the Fritz Thyssen Foundation and the German Research Foundation (DFG). In 2017, he was a visiting scholar in the BabMed (Babylonian Medicine) research project at the Free University of Berlin. [4]
Since 2018, he has been a research associate at the Faculty of Theology of the Humboldt University of Berlin, supported by funding from the German Research Foundation. [4]
Burtea is known for his German-language translations of several Mandaean religious texts, including:
Mandaic, or more specifically Classical Mandaic, is the liturgical language of Mandaeism and a South Eastern Aramaic variety in use by the Mandaean community, traditionally based in southern parts of Iraq and southwest Iran, for their religious books. Mandaic, or Classical Mandaic is still used by Mandaean priests in liturgical rites. The modern descendant of Mandaic or Classical Mandaic, known as Neo-Mandaic or Modern Mandaic, is spoken by a small group of Mandaeans around Ahvaz and Khorramshahr in the southern Iranian Khuzestan province.
The Neo-Aramaic or Modern Aramaic languages are varieties of Aramaic that evolved during the late medieval and early modern periods, and continue to the present day as vernacular (spoken) languages of modern Aramaic-speaking communities. Within the field of Aramaic studies, classification of Neo-Aramaic languages has been a subject of particular interest among scholars, who proposed several divisions, into two, three or four primary groups.
The Qolastā, Qulasta, Qolusta, or the Canonical Prayerbook is, as the name suggests, a canonical prayer book of the Mandaeans, a Gnostic ethnoreligious group from Iraq and Iran. The Mandaic word qolastā means "collection". The prayerbook is a collection of Mandaic prayers regarding baptisms (masbuta) and other sacred rituals involved in the ascension of the soul (masiqta).
Rudolf Macúch was a Slovak linguist, naturalized as German after 1974.
The Haran Gawaita also known as the Scroll of Great Revelation, is a Mandaean text which recounts the history of the Mandaeans and their arrival in Media as Nasoraeans from Jerusalem.
The Diwan Abatur is a Mandaean religious text. It is a large illustrated scroll that is over 20 ft. long.
Parwanaya or Panja is a 5-day religious festival in the Mandaean calendar. The 5 epagomenals inserted at the end of every Šumbulta constitute the Parwanaya intercalary feast. The festival celebrates the five days that Hayyi Rabbi created the angels and the universe.
The masiqta is a mass or ritual practiced in the Mandaean religion in order to help guide the soul (nišimta) towards the World of Light in Mandaean cosmology. They are typically performed as funerary rites for Mandaeans who have just died. Although usually translated as "death mass", a few types of masiqta are also performed for living people, such as when priests are ordained. Masiqtas are also used to consecrate houses of worship.
Maṣbuta is the ritual of immersion in water in the Mandaean religion.
The Scroll of the Parwanaya is a Mandaean religious text that describes the rituals of the five-day Parwanaya festival. Excluding the colophon, the text consists of 931 lines.
In Mandaeism, the pihta is a type of sacramental bread used with rituals performed by Mandaean priests. It is a small, round, biscuit-sized flatbread that can either be salted or saltless, depending on whether the ritual use of the pihta is for living or dead people.
The Šarḥ ḏ-Zihrun Raza Kasia is a Mandaean religious text that describes rituals such as the masbuta, masiqta, and other related topics. It is an illustrated scroll.
The Diwan u-tafsir ḏ-razia ḏ-abahata is a Mandaean religious text. It is written as a scroll.
The Scroll of the Great Baptism is a Mandaean religious text. It is a ritual scroll describing the 360 baptisms (masbutas) for a polluted priest. The scroll is also called "Fifty Baptisms" and the Raza Rba ḏ-Zihrun.
In Mandaeism, mambuha, sometimes spelled mambuga, is sacramental drinking water used in rituals such as the masbuta (baptism).
In Mandaeism, halalta is sacramental rinsing water used in rituals such as the masiqta.
In Mandaeism, the zidqa brika is a type of ritual meal blessed by Mandaean priests. Zidqa means oblation and can also mean alms, while brika means blessed.
Zihrun, is an uthra in the World of Light. He is the main subject of the Mandaean scroll Zihrun Raza Kasia.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Mandaeism.