Kreyenbroek, Philip G. 2013. Teachers and teachings in the Good Religion: Opera minora on Zoroastrianism (Göttinger Orientforschungen, Iranica, NF 10). Edited by Kianoosh Rezania. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.The volume edited by Kioanoosh Rezania brings together seventeen articles by Philip Kreyenbroek on the subject of Zoroastrianism. The collection represents the author’s most important short contributions on that subject, written over a period of more than 30 years. Although the papers are concerned with a range of different subjects, they are to some extent interconnected, and in several cases one may find lines of argument emerging in one article which the author develops in subsequent papers.
The papers cover six important aspects of Zoroastrianism: History; the Zoroastrian tradition and its oral transmission; Cosmology, Cosmogony and Eschatology; Priesthood; and Ritual. Topics discussed there include the history of the Zoroastrian tradition in various periods; the mainly oral nature of the Zoroastrian religious tradition until well into the Islamic period, and some of the implications of this for our understanding of that tradition; Kreyenbroek’s views and hypotheses on the nature and origin of the Indo-Iranian and Zoroastrian cosmogonies; the various developments in the structure of the priesthood, particularly during and after the Sasanian period; and lastly various questions concerning the Zoroastrian ritual, which are informed by the author’s extraordinary familiarity with the Zoroastrian ritual literature.
*The dates in brackets refer to the first edition of the articles.
- Iran ix. Religions in Iran. 1. Iranian Religions of the Pre-Islamic Period. (1.1) An Overview (2006)
- On the Construction of Zoroastrianism in Western Iran (2012)
- Zoroastrianism under the Sasanians (2013, first published in this volume)
- The Zoroastrian Tradition from an Oralist’s Point of View (1996)
- On the shaping of Zoroastrian theology. Ašị, Vǝrǝθraγna and the
promotion of the Amǝšạ Spǝṇtas (1988) - Theological Questions in an Oral Tradition: the Case of Zoroastrianism (2006)
- Mithra and Ahreman in Iranian Cosmogonies (1994)
- Mithra and Ahreman, Binyāmīn and Malak Ṭāwūs: Traces of an
Ancient Myth in the Cosmogonies of Two Modern Sects (1992) - Cosmogony and Cosmology i. In Zoroastrianism/Mazdaism (1993)
- On Spenta Mainyu’s Role in the Zoroastrian Cosmogony (1993)
- Millennialism and Eschatology in the Zoroastrian Tradition (2002)
- On the Concept of Spiritual Authority in Zoroastrianism (1994)
- Exegesis i. In Zoroastrianism (1999)
- The Zoroastrian Priesthood after the Fall of the Sasanian Empire (1985)
- The Dādestān ī Dēnīg on Priests (1987)
- Ritual and Rituals in the Nērangestān (2004)
- The Term Bagān Yasn and the Function of Yašts in the Zoroastrian Ritual (2008)
About the Author:
Philip G. Kreyenbroek is director of the Institute of Iranian Studies of the Georg-August University, Göttingen.