Theories on the origins of the Mandaeans have varied widely. During the 19th Century [[Wilhelm Bousset]], [[Richard August Reitzenstein|Richard Reitzenstein]] and [[Rudolf Bultmann]] argued that the Mandaeans were pre-Christian, as a parallel of Bultmann's theory that Gnosticism predated the Gospel of John.<ref>Edwin M. Yamauchi Gnostic ethics and Mandaean origins 2004 - Page 8 "C. The Age of the Mandaean Sect Against the claims of Reitzenstein and Bultmann that the Mandaeans dated to the pre-Christian period"</ref> Hans Lietzmann (1930) countered with the argument that all extant texts could be explained by a 7th Century exposure to, and conversion to, an oriental form of Christianity, taking on such Christian rituals as a Sunday Sabbath.
Scholars of Mandaeans considered them to be of pre-Christian origin, however no evidence for this is found prior to the second century.<ref>Etudes mithriaques 1978 p545 Jacques Duchesne-Guillemin "The conviction of the leading Mandaean scholars — E. S. Drower, Kurt Rudolph, Rudolph Macuch — that Mandaeanism had a pre-Christian origin rests largely upon the subjective evaluation of parallels between Mandaean texts and the Gospel of John."</ref> They claim [[John the Baptist]] as a member (and onetime leader) of their sect; the [[River Jordan]] is a central feature of their doctrine of [[baptism]].<ref>Drower, Introduction, p. xiv</ref> However, in the 1960s the position of , Christian scholars of Mandaeism settled on an early Jerusalem, but not pre-Christian, origin.<ref>King "Many specialists in Mandaean studies still argue for an early Western origin for Mandaeanism, preeminent among them [[Rudolf Macuch]], Lady Drower, Kurt Rudolph, and Lupieri, but they generally reject a pre-Christian date and argue for great circumspection in using Mandaean texts to explain the genesis of New Testament literature.91 "</ref><ref>Edmondo Lupieri The Mandaeans: the last gnostics 2002</ref>