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Loading...Many people assume that somehow or other the Dead Sea Scrolls matter for understanding better who Jesus was and what he preached. But how? In this post I’ll give a fairly succinct answer to the question.
I should begin by stressing that the Scrolls are *mainly* important for understanding early Judaism, and only secondarily for understanding early Christianity.
Even so, they are highly important for Christianity as well, though not in ways you might suspect (especially if you acquire all your historical knowledge from random searches on the Internet!). If I were to do the one-sentence version of why they matter for understanding Christianity, the shortest iteration I can come up with is that: “The Dead Sea Scrolls are texts written and/or copied by Jews living at about that same time and about the same place as Jesus, and so inform us about the milieu out of which his ministry, and the earliest Christian church, emerged.”
The first thing to stress is that
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A question that I have for you Dr. Ehrman. gMark presents certain events that had to be fulfilled before the arrival of the eschaton (preaching of the gospel to all nations, wars etc.). Did this element in Markan thought trace back to the historical Jesus himself or was it concocted rather in the face of disillusionment, when the early Christian community experienced perhaps some type of unrest since their apocalyptic expectations hadn’t come to fruition yet. Furthermore, regardless of whether those sayings trace back to the historical Jesus or not, how did Markan thought reconcile the occurence of multiple wars and a plenitude of events nonetheless, with the adherence to the belief of an imminent eschaton. I am asking this for one can say that if these events haven’t occured yet and presumably a greater amount of time has to elapse for their materialization, then perhaps notions of an imminent parousia may seem quite implausible. Does this perhaps point to an earlier date for the authorship of Mark than often admitted?
It is often thought that he is referring to the destruction of Jerusalem; writing in its immediate aftermath, he thought that now the prophecies had been fulfilled and the end was imminent.
I’ve been reading a series of papers by scholar John Ben-Daniel, who suggests that there was a community of Essenes or Essene-like groups who lived at various times in caves at Mt Arbel in the Lower Galilee. There are hints of a Galilean Qumran and questions of possible influence on a certain fairly well-known itinerant apocalyptic prophet.
These caves aren’t new. Josephus mentions them. The caves were considered places of refuge in times of war. However, archeologists have discovered evidence that they were occupied continuously over various periods of time in their history. There is evidence of mikva’ot and cisterns consistent with Essene practice. What is lacking are any textual remains like the Dead Sea Scrolls. And it doesn’t help that the area was used as a Muslim fortress and much of the original structure was destroyed.
I’m not competent to have an opinion. Jodi Magness, a past skeptic of hypothetical non-Qumran Essene sites, hasn’t weighed in on this claim as far as I am aware.
Are you familiar with this claim? If so, what do you make of it?
Thanks
I’m not familiar with it or any scholarly reponses to it.
Hi SJB,
This study of Arbel as an Essene center in the 1st century can fit nicely with the studies that show that the Bible Nazareth fits as Har Nitai (the other side of the valley from Arbel.)
Steven Avery
https://linktr.ee/stevenavery
Why do you think those aligned with a “conservative theological agenda” tend to resist portraying Jesus as an apocalyptic figure? The way you’ve described this movement sounds very similar to the message I heard growing up in a fundamentalist church. If Jesus did assume the end was imminent, it seems at least possible that he was mistaken, especially in light of his statement that “not even the Son knows” the timing (Matthew 24:36).
Also, do you think these Second Temple Jews understood themselves (or used any comparable category) as “apocalypticists” to describe their outlook? And finally, would you consider Paul to be an apocalyptic thinker?
It’s because Jesus apocalyptic message was that it would all happen “soon” not in the 21st century but the 1st, and that can be uncomfortable to people.
Good afternoon, Dr. Ehrman. Congrats on your retirement! I loved your Final Lecture. I apologize if this is a silly question, but would you be able to sign my copy of “Heaven and Hell”? I completely understand if you’re not able to. Thank you for your time and for all that you do. Cordially, Brandon F.
Send me an email!
Bart, this question is a little of topic. Im a new reader of the blogg so you might have talked about this before and if so i apologies, but what would be the most accurate english translation of the bible compared to the “original” or earliest greek manuscripts to read?
There are lots of good ones out there. My preferred is the New Revised Standard Versoin, which I prefer in an annotated edition, such as the Harper-Collins Study Bible.
In Matthew 19:12, Jesus speaks of those who made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Do scholars think that this was referring to the Essenes?
No; probably either to those who commit themselves to abstention from sex or to those who actually castrate themselves. We don’t have any evidence of that early on, though.
assuming matthew and luke don’t contradict each other and are inerrant. i have a few questions :
does luke’s story require widespread angelic activity in mary’s immediate family?
if yes, then joseph would know her relatives, he would know where she went for 3 months, he would know elizabeths pregnancy was miraculous.Why then when he sees his future wife, he wants to send her away? are we to believe that mary’s immediate family experienced supernatural events while joseph was clueless?
He saw his wife pregnant, but was not convinced by her claim that the angel impregnanted her ? so then a dream had to convince him? strange.
None of the stories indicates what Joseph knew…
If apocalipticism was so widespread in his day, how likely or how possible is it that these views were imposed or placed on Jesus by the writers of the New Testament, rather than what he may have actually believed or taught?
The four gospels show four very different attitudes of Jesus during his ministry and during the events leading up to the crucifixion. Things like: did he want to keep his ministry and identity secret or not – very different in Mark and John. Was he silent or communicating in the events leading up to and during the crucifixion, different in different gospels. There are other things as well.
It’s evident that different writers were placing their own views and or understandings of things on Jesus. Couldn’t this be true about his apocalypticism as well?
Yes, it’s a possibility that has to be considered, and often is considered by historical Jesus scholars. Since apocalyptic materials are found on so many layers of the traditoin (Mark, Q, M, L e.g) it seesm likely Jesus held to them. Also, he clearly started by associating with an apocalypticist (John the Baptist) and after he died his followers were clearly apocalypticists; so it’d be hard to explain why BOTH were if he himself wasn’t.