Iain Gardner

Iain Gardner is Emeritus Professor of the History of Religions in the Discipline of Studies in Religion at the University of Sydney. He was appointed to a Lectureship in Early Christian Studies at the University in 1987 and progressed through the ranks to Senior Lecturer in 1993, Associate Professor in 2001, and Personal Chair in 2005. Gardner served as Chair of the Department of Studies in Religion and Postgraduate Research Coordinator. Before joining Sydney, he acquired extensive teaching experience in Britain and Western Australia. Trained in early Christian literature and the history of religions at the University of Manchester, he conducted research on ancient manuscripts in Berlin and Vienna. Listed among the academic staff in the School of Humanities, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, his contributions have shaped the field of religious studies at the institution.

A Fellow of the Australian Academy of Humanities, Iain Gardner is a preeminent specialist in Coptic and Manichaean studies, having edited many original documents from late antiquity as part of projects including the UNESCO-sponsored Corpus Fontium Manichaeorum. His research centers on the history of Manichaeism, including biographical traditions of its founder Mani and community practices revealed through archaeological finds. Key publications encompass The Founder of Manichaeism: Rethinking the Life of Mani (Cambridge University Press, 2020), a historiographical study; The Letters of Mani: A Selection of Manichaean Community Letters and Phraseology in Greek, Coptic, and Latin (Oxford University Press, 2024); Manichaean Texts from the Roman Empire, edited with Samuel N. C. Lieu (Cambridge University Press, 2004); The Kephalaia of the Teacher (E. J. Brill, Leiden, 1995); and contributions to Manichaean Liturgical Texts and Practices (Brepols, 2024). He edited Manichaean texts from the Dakhleh Oasis Project at Kellis, including family letters that illuminate everyday Manichaean life in late antique Egypt. Gardner is co-recipient of the Kerkyasharian and Kayikian Fund Armenian studies research award. He has presented public lectures, such as 'New Research and Sources for the Life of Mani' at the Pourdavoud Institute in 2021, and participated as a visiting scholar at institutions like Leiden University. Through his editions and analyses, Gardner's scholarship has profoundly influenced the academic understanding of Manichaeism and late antique religions.

Professional Email: iain.gardner@sydney.edu.au