Tools in education. The case of Manichaeans and Christians in the Turfan oasis between the 8th and 11th centuries

Estratto da "ORIENTALIA CHRISTIANA PERIODICA" 89 (2023). Punto metallico. 12pp --- What tools in education did the Manichaean and Christian monastic traditions deploy in the mixed environment of the Turfan oasis between the 8th and 11th centuries? And above all, what was the role of Iranian speakers in education? From a methodological point of view, how should one approach the chosen topic when one has largely fragmentary and decontextualised material? Philological-linguistic and historical-religious research over the past century has yielded exceptional results, both with regard to the transmission of religious knowledge from the centres to the frontier zones and with regard to its circulation at the local level. We will discuss the education of monks inside monasteries, although mostly faced with an argumentum ex silentio and trying to identify the fitting educational root(s).