Abstract
The paper describes how our image of the Mandaean religion as a gnostic religion with emphasis on baptismal practices has developed from first references of travelers and missionaries. Most of the text focuses on the construction of this image and at the end of the paper, possibilities of deconstruction are suggested.
The author shows that the dominant tendency in the research on Mandaeans has been the problem of the origin of the Mandaeans. This orientation of the Mandaean studies is also apparent in the absence of analyses based on field research and native reflexion (except for the work of Lady Drower).
The author also objects to still common practice to present Mandaean "presence" in terms of Lady Drower's descriptions from the first third of the 20th century whereas Mandaean community underwent crucial changes just after Lady Drower had left Iraq. The author considers criticism of the "Western" origins of the Mandaeans (Ch.
Müller-Kessler) resting on philological arguments and a research of colophons of the Mandaean texts (J.J. Buckley) to be the most important tendencies in contemporary research on Mandaeans.