Reflections on John the Baptist in History and Theology by Joel Marcus

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-26
Author(s):  
Cecilia Wassén
Keyword(s):  
Dead Sea Scrolls ◽  
Dead Sea ◽  
Favorable Attitude ◽  
Recent Book ◽  
John The Baptist ◽  
Sitz Im Leben ◽  
The Dead ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract In this article, I engage with Joel Marcus’s recent book on John the Baptist, focusing on the relationship between John and the Dead Sea Scrolls. While I appreciate many parts of his detailed study, I question the claim that John was a former member of the Essenes. Although there are intriguing similarities, the question is how far reaching conclusions we may draw concerning such a relationship. I problematize some aspects of the comparison between the sources. Like many scholars, Marcus refers in particular to 1QS and the site of Khirbet Qumran for reconstructing the Essenes and hence John’s background. In response, I highlight the uncertainty about the Sitz im leben of 1QS in relation to Khirbet Qumran and ask why this particular manuscript should be privileged over others. Not least when it comes to purity halakhah there are many other documents than 1QS from Qumran that are highly relevant to the issue. Finally, I critically evaluate Marcus’s view that John the Baptist had a favorable attitude towards Gentiles, which according Marcus differed from the views of the Essenes.

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN RELIGIOUS BELIEFS AND THE ACCOUNTING AND ECONOMIC PRACTICES OF A SOCIETY: EVIDENCE FROM THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS

2013 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 115-143 ◽  
Author(s):  
David N. Herda ◽  
Stephen A. Reed ◽  
William F. Bowlin
Keyword(s):  
Religious Beliefs ◽  
Dead Sea Scrolls ◽  
Second Temple ◽  
Dead Sea ◽  
First Century ◽  
Second Temple Period ◽  
Economic Practices ◽  
The Dead ◽  
Primary Focus ◽  
The Relationship

This study explores the Dead Sea Scrolls to demonstrate how Essene socio-religious values shaped their accounting and economic practices during the late Second Temple period (ca. first century BCE to 70 CE). Our primary focus is on the accounting and commercial responsibilities of a leader within their community – the Examiner. We contend that certain sectarian accounting practices may be understood as ritual/religious ceremony and address the performative roles of the Essenes' accounting and business procedures in light of their purity laws and eschatological beliefs. Far from being antithetical to religious beliefs, we find that accounting actually enabled the better practice and monitoring of religious behavior. We add to the literature on the interaction of religion with the structures and practices of accounting and regulation within a society.

scholarly journals Examining the Reception and Impact of the Dead Sea Scrolls: Some Possibilities for Future Investigation

2011 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 226-246
Author(s):  
Matthew A. Collins
Keyword(s):  
Film Music ◽  
Dead Sea Scrolls ◽  
Gender Issues ◽  
Dead Sea ◽  
Reception History ◽  
Biblical Studies ◽  
Future Research ◽  
The Dead ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractThe last sixty years afford us a remarkable, though largely unexplored, opportunity to examine the Dead Sea Scrolls from the perspective of “reception history.” This article first provides an overview of what has already been done with regard to this goal and highlights the importance and timeliness of such an approach, suggesting that it is furthermore a necessary endeavor if Qumran Studies is to keep pace with developments in the wider world of Biblical Studies. It continues by outlining some possible directions for future investigation, identifying academic reception, popular reception, and processes of knowledge transfer as three main areas or categories into which such examinations could helpfully be divided. The internal processes of scrolls scholarship, the relationship between Qumran Studies and Biblical Studies, gender issues, the scrolls in literature, film, music, and art, and the role of exhibitions, documentaries, and newspapers, are all highlighted as potential areas for future research.

Is the Testament of Qahat Part of the Visions of Amram? Material and Literary Considerations of 4Q542 and 4Q547

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Daniel Machiela
Keyword(s):  
Strong Support ◽  
Dead Sea Scrolls ◽  
Dead Sea ◽  
Hellenistic Period ◽  
Contextual Assessment ◽  
The Dead ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Previous Scholarship

Abstract The contents of 4Q542 and 4Q547 have been treated in previous scholarship as representing two, independent Jewish literary compositions dating to the Hellenistic period, the Testament of Qahat and the Visions of Amram. However, paleographic, scribal, and other manuscript features strongly suggest that 4Q542 and 4Q547 are, in fact, parts of one and the same scroll. Consequently, in this article I reconsider the relationship of the contents of 4Q542/547. It may be that two independent works were copied on the same scroll, as we find elsewhere among the Qumran manuscripts (e.g., 4Q203–204). Another possibility is that what scholars have considered to be an independent composition in the Testament of Qahat is actually a sub-section of the Visions of Amram. The latter option gains strong support from a contextual assessment of other Aramaic writings found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, especially the Isaac section of the Aramaic Levi Document.

An Altar in the Desert?

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 123-135
Author(s):  
Alison Schofield
Keyword(s):  
Dead Sea Scrolls ◽  
Dead Sea ◽  
Spatial Theory ◽  
Conceptual Spaces ◽  
Spatial Practices ◽  
Damascus Document ◽  
The Dead ◽  
Community Rule ◽  
Rule Out

Jodi Magness’ proposal that an altar existed at Qumran leaves some unanswered questions; nevertheless, her conclusions are worthy of consideration. This study examines her claim that the residents at Qumran had an altar, modeled off of the Wilderness Tabernacle, through the lens of critical spatial theory. The conceptual spaces of some of the Dead Sea Scrolls, such as The Damascus Document and The Community Rule, as well as the spatial practices of the site of Qumran do not rule out – and even support – the idea that Qumran itself was highly delimited and therefore its spaces hierarchized in such a way that it could have supported a central cultic site.

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