Scriptures and Sectarianism

The Dead Sea Scrolls include many texts that were produced by a sectarian movement (and also many that were not). The movement had its origin in disputes about the interpretation of the Scriptures, especially the Torah, not in disputes about the priesthood as had earlier been assumed. The definitive break with the rest of Judean society should be dated to the first century BCE rather than to the second. While the Scrolls include few texts that are explicitly historical, they remain a valuable resource for historical reconstruction. John J. Collins illustrates how the worldview of the sect involved a heightened sense of involvement in the heavenly, angelic world, and the hope for an afterlife in communion with the angels. While the ideology of the sect known from the Scrolls is very different from that of early Christianity, the two movements drew on common traditions, especially those found in the Hebrew Scriptures.PrefaceIntroduction: What Have We Learned from the Dead Sea Scrolls?

Part One: Scripture and Interpretation
The Transformation of the Torah in Second Temple Judaism - Changing Scripture - Tradition and Innovation in the Dead Sea Scrolls - The Interpretation of Genesis in the Dead Sea Scrolls - The Interpretation of Psalm Two - The Book of Daniel and the Dead Sea Scrolls

Part Two: History and SectarianismHistoriography in the Dead Sea Scrolls - Reading for History in the Dead Sea Scrolls - »Enochic Judaism« and the Sect of the Dead Sea Scrolls - Sectarian Consciousness in the Dead Sea Scrolls

Part Three: The Sectarian WorldviewCovenant and Dualism in the Dead Sea Scrolls - The Angelic Life - The Essenes and the Afterlife - Prayer and the Meaning of Ritual in the Dead Sea Scrolls - The Eschatologizing of Wisdom in the Dead Sea Scrolls

EpilogueThe Dead Sea Scrolls and the New Testament - The Case of the Suffering Servant