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Was Jesus a member of the Essenes? by
Graeme J. Davidson, April
2001
Was Jesus
a member of the Essenes — A Jewish sect of celibate adult
males who wore white robes shared things in common, kept the purity
of the faith and probably wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls? The
web provides a number of good sources to help delve into this
question.
An Arab Shepherd
boy throwing stones into the mouth of a cave at Qumran near the
Dead Sea in 1947 led to the finding of the Dead Sea Scrolls that
were to revolutionise our understanding of the Bible and the world
in which Jesus and his followers lived.
Although there
is some dispute among scholars, the writers of the Dead Sea Scrolls
are believed to have been members of the Essene community at Qumran
— a
Jewish sect that flourished from the 2nd Cent BC until the end
of the 1st Cent AD.
The Essenes
were a devout community of adult males who practised celibacy,
ritual purity, cleanliness and piety. They also opposed slavery,
prohibited trading, and sought justice and truth.
Because they
were stored in the caves above the community compound at Qumran,
the Dead Sea Scrolls survived the Roman destruction of the Qumran
community in 68AD.
Note:
There are those who follow the practices of the Essenes today
and there are churches that include 'Essene' in their title. But
the modern Essene movement or the history of the Essenes after
the second century is not covered in this survey of Web Theology.
Key Resources
For
the casual reader who wants a very brief encyclopedia description
of who the Essenes are, look at the article in Infoplease.com.
A longer explanation
and a summary of the issues involved in understanding the Essenes
and influences on Christianity is presented by E.P. Graham and
transcribed by M. Donahue in the Catholic
Encyclopedia.
Our knowledge
of the Essenes comes from the following key sources:
- Pliny
the Elder,
- Philo's
Quod omnibus probus liber,
- Josephus'
Jewish War and Antiquities of the Jews, and the
- Dead
Sea Scrolls.
If you want
to read prime sources, an English translation of each of the texts
where Pliny, Philo and Josephus mention the Essenes is provided
by the Goodnews Christian Ministry in an article entitled, The
Essenes and the Dead Sea Scrolls at Qumran.
To learn about
the history of the discovery, scholarship, pseudo scholarship,
the debates and some of the more bizarre claims surrounding the
Dead Sea Scrolls, Mahlon H. Smith of Rutgers University provides
an excellent Timetable of Discovery and Debate of The
Dead Sea Scrolls along with links to texts, authors and
information on the debates.
Rutgers University
also provides a link to the Library
of Congress Exhibition of the Scrolls, which includes
translations of some of the scrolls, while Shawn C. Madden has
offered an interesting Librarians
Perspective on the Library at Qumran for a Master's thesis
for the University of North Carolina.
In a Century
One article called the Jerusalem's
Essene Gateway Bargil Pixner presents archaeological evidence
to show that during Jesus' time there was a 'Gate of the Essenes'
cut into the Jerusalem wall to enable about 50 Essene 'kohanim'
or priests who had stricter purification standards than other
temple priests to perform their ritual ablutions.
Hoselton's
has a Web page which is constantly updated on the latest research
and links associated with the Dead
Sea Scrolls and Qumran.
The University
of Calgary shows textual parallels between Josephus
Essenes and Community Rule that are worth looking at for
seeing the similarities and differences between the two authors.
Key links
to articles and basic sources on the The
Dead Seas Scrolls can also be found at a site produced
by Ian Hutchesson. He disputes that the Scrolls were written by
the Essenes.
The Oriental
Institute at the University of Chicago has published the Dead
Sea Scrolls Project, including a lengthy article on the
current controversy over the Dead Sea Scrolls.
L. Michael
White, Professor of Classics and Director of the Religious Studies
Program at the University of Texas at Austin describes in an easy
to read article entitled The
Essenes and the Dead Sea Scrolls what the Scrolls may
mean to Christianity.
A proselytising
argument claiming that the New Testament reflects Essene believers
who converted to Christianity after the crucifixion can be found
in the article The
Essenes and their influence on the New Testament.
In 1875, before
the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, world renown Biblical scholar,
J.B. Lightfoot, evaluated the case for an Essene influence in
Christian writings. His tightly argued article, On
some points connected with the Essenes, is reproduced
by Philogos.
K Leek, from
the University of Texas discusses in the The
Dead Sea Scrolls and Christianity some of the key arguments
and parallels between Christianity and the Essenes and concludes
that the sect at Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls do not explain
Christianity but give insights into the Jewish world from which
Christianity sprung.
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