Qumran excites the Religious Imagination

In the title of this post "religious" means a member of a religious order. The photo at left is of Cave 4 - the so-called "Cave of the Scrolls." It is 1 of 11 caves that have yielded the so-called "Dead Sea Scrolls" in the 1940s and 50s. I took this picture standing across the Wadi (Canyon) at the site of the Qumran settlement excavations. Although the conventional wisdom that interprets the excavated buildings in light of the scrolls has been challenged it recent years by a multitude of scholars, it is generally held that the scrolls hidden in those 11 caves were produced by a group of Jewish sectarians called the Essenes who lived in Qumran compound between 150 BC and the conquest of Palestine by the Romans in the 70s of the 1st Century AD.

As I wandered through the excavation site (like so many, now a National Park) I saw labels that were very reminiscent to my religious ears: a "scriptorium" and a "refectory." These are European monastic names for a room in which manuscripts are copied and a dining room respectively. One understands this in light of the work of the first excavator of the Qumran site. That work was carried out by Fr. Rolland DeVaux, OP of the Ecole Biblique et Archaeologique Francaise, in whose halls I am currently residing and studying. Following Josephus, the images we get of Essene life sounds remarkably like Western Monastic Life: separation, work, prayer, contemplation, ritual, and a path that leads to sanctification. There is even a "monastic rule" among the Dead Sea Scrolls: the so-called Community Rule (scroll fragment 4Q258).

As is often the case, the Israeli National Park service provides a short video to help visitors understand the archaeological site they are about to enter. The Qumran video featured images of the Essene "monks" busy about their "religious life" clad in white "habits." It is easy to read Western Monasticism into what I saw there - it doesn't take much to excite the imagination of a religious in that direction.

As interesting as this site was and as much as it might be fun to delve into more recent debates about whether of not the Scrolls and the Community Site must be interpreted together, my own reflection have led elsewhere in light of the Gospel study in which I am engaged at present. I am much more interested in the whole concept of Jewish Sectarianism and Separatism in the 1st Century. Indeed, recent Biblical Scholarship is more and more shaped by the understanding of Christianity as primarily a Sect within Judaism.

Based largely on the writings of Josephus scholars can identify at least three sects in Jewish history just prior to the Christian era. Two of the names are familiar to Christian ears: Pharisee, Saducees and Essenes. Later scholarship would say that Saducees and Pharisee are more "parties" than "sects" - the distinguishing feature being that Pharisees and Saducees did not believe that their Jewishness was the only authentic Jewishness - they argued with others but at least recognized that others were Jews in good-standing with God. Sects, on the other hand, tended toward a radicalism that, on some level , rejected other Jews as not truly following path that would lead to righteousness. Sects were separatists who moved away from mainstream Jewish life. In that light, later Sects are identified as Essenes, Christians, and Zealots (of which the Sicarii at Masada are an extreme manifestation).

There are lots of different ways to look at these sects. What is exciting about the Essenes is there austere asceticism. Whether at Qumran or other places they separated themselves from Temple worship because of their extreme love for it and a desire for a purified Temple Worship. They followed a Solar calendar instead of the Jewish Lunar calendar, and they practiced a frequent ritual purification bath that is reminiscent of the baptism of John the Baptist - this frequent washing advocated in Qumran scrolls and the presence of many ritual bathing facilities (typified by a dual staircase - one place for the "impure" to enter, and a separate path for the "purified" to exit) is one of the strongest pieces of corroborating evidence that the community of the scrolls lived in the Qumran buildings.

Why are the Essenes so interesting to me? Because I think they shed light on any study of Early Christianity. One of the emphases of my studies here at the Ecole Biblique is a reinforcement of the idea that Jesus should be interpreted, not as anti-Jewish, anti-priesthood, anti-law, or anti-ritual. But rather, he should be seen as a good 1st Century Jew striving to live a more perfect Jewishness. Christians will, of course, see him as more in light of the Christological claims of the Gospels; but Jesus is not advocating a turn from the faith of his Fathers, in fact a close reading of the Gospels reveals that Jesus calls fora more complete and more rigorous living of the precepts of the Law. Jesus did not come to abolish the Law, but to "fill it up!" Where Pharisees were notorious for their reinterpretations of the law that made up new, easier-to-follow "sub-precepts", Jesus called his followers to ignore that silliness and simply follow the law in all of its richness.

My studies here have challenged me to see Jesus differently. They are giving me new lenses for understanding the Gospels! Yea! That's what I had hoped for and it will definitely be reflected in my preaching.

Back to the Essenes and early Christians for a second: the Essenes, in their attempt to live a more pure Jewishness (I don't use the term "Judaism" because that is a a Post-Temple designation), they eventually have to physically separate from the multitudes of their Jewish brothers and sisters. In the desert, they will find a path to purity and become witnesses to the need for that purity. Their project was interrupted by some outside force (some believe a devastating earthquake, others the tide of Roman legions cleaning up after the fall of Jerusalem). Christianity began in the Holy City, a new sect calling people to live a more complete Jewishness in light of their hyper-Jewish leader who had met his ignominious death because he called everyone to a path of true life and light. Their attempts to live this more perfect Jewishness would eventually lead to their own persecution and scattering outside the Holy City. Unlike the Essenes, Roman legions would not destroy them - their faith was no longer dependent on the Temple and Roman destruction would simple enhance their own eschatological self-understanding. Their adherents, instead of succumbing to Roman Power, would take the message of their leader, their messiah to the heart of the Empire, and 250 years later, would conquer Rome.

it was exciting being at Qumran and it inspired me to learn more about 1st Century Jewish Sectarianism. It has much to do with our history. If you would like to see more photos from Qumran, they are at http://picasaweb.google.com/FrBart/0706Qumran.