Bibliography
| Title: The history of the Qumran community. An investigation Secondary Title: JSPE.S 3 Type: Book Year: 1988 Abstract: "This dissertation analyzes the evidence for the history of the Qumran community. The archaeological remains from Qumran date the Hellenistic-Roman settlement roughly from the last quarter of the second century BCE to ca. 68/69 CE. Palaeographical study of the scrolls shows that the sectarian scrolls from Qumran were copied approximately from the end of the second century to the end of the first century BCE. Therefore, events and persons alluded to in theses texts must have been active prior to the copying of the oldest sectarian documents--before 100 BCE. This general periodization is consistent with Josephus, who introduces the Essenes into the Jewish history of the mid-second century BCE. Pliny knows an Essene-like group near Qumran in the first century CE. None of these sources speaks of figures mentioned in the Qumran texts. A literal reading of the chronological notes in CD I,5-11 indicates that the Teacher, the Liar, and their respective adherents lived in the first half of the second century BCE. The compiler of CD reveals nothing about the identities and interactions of these figures. 1QpHab and 4QpPs 37 introduce the Teacher's other enemy--the Wicked Priest. 1QpHab VIII,3-13 suggests that this figure had functioned as high priest at one time. Other passages suggest that he tried to kill the Teacher of Righteousness. Not mentioning the Teacher, the Wicked Priest, and the Liar, 4QpNah I,2-8 does refer to the Seekers after Smooth Things, who may be identified as the Liar's group based on CD I,12-21. The Seekers after Smooth Things invited Demetrius III Eukerus to capture Jerusalem and remove Alexander Jannaeus from power (ca. 90 BCE). Thus the Liar's group seems to have consisted of Pharisees. 4QTest and 1QH offer no clear testimony on Qumran history. Therefore, one may conclude that the Teacher, the Wicked Priest, and the Liar were active between 200 and 90 BCE. The Wicked Priest seems to have been a high priest and the Seekers after Smooth Things=the Liar's community were probably Pharisees. In sum, the evidence does not sustain the detailed views of the current consensus nor any other reconstructions of Qumran history". Keywords: Qumran |