The Dead Sea Scrolls
Clearly and the schism that caused the Dead Sea sect to arise can only be understood in the context of Jewish history and the sectarianism of the Second Temple period in Judea. Across twenty centuries, the Scrolls speak to us of the pluralism that existed in ancient Judaism, each group competing to be the "True Israel" of God, and each claiming a monopoly on the true interpretation of the Torah. The Scrolls provide us with a window into an ancient Jewish time and give us a glimpse of an ancient Jewish sect who resided in the desert on the shores of the Dead Sea. Reflected in the Scrolls are their religious traditions and beliefs, their legal tenets, their worship, and their approach to ...
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concerning the Essenes by Philo and Josephus, be subjected to their own separate critical review before conclusions are made.
It must be remembered that Josephus, the primary source of information about the Essenes, wrote primarily for Greek and Roman audiences, and that he wrote approximately two hundred years after the founding of the sect. At this late date, it would be impossible for him to have first hand knowledge. Also, he himself "admits to having included more than one group of sectarians under the heading 'Essenes'."1 "It seems from the generalizations he made in his 'Fourth Philosophy', that he may have described several groups as one."2 Because it is known that many Jewish sects existed during the Second Temple period, there is not enough clear evidence to conclude that the Essenes of whom Philo and Josephus described were also one and the same as the Dead Sea sect.
In the writing of this paper, many diverse scholarly opinions on the origins of the Dead Sea sect ...
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conclusions, the Sabbath Code of the Zadokite Fragments was studied in detail."4 Since that time, he has gone on to study the many other aspects of Jewish legal material found at Qumran, including the nature of the sect, its structure, and its self-definition.
Dr. Schiffman is Professor of Hebrew and Judaic Studies at New York University in the Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies and also in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Literature. He specializes in the Judaism of late antiquity, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the history of Jewish Law and Talmudic Literature.
In 1991, he was appointed to the team publishing and researching the Dead Sea Scrolls.5 Dr. Schiffman has ...
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"The Dead Sea Scrolls." Essayworld.com. February 7, 2007. Accessed April 19, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-Dead-Sea-Scrolls/59967.
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