The Dig - The Orthodoxy of the Essenes - Stephen Pidgeon with Jessica Knock, Frank Germano, and John Bar. [2.22.58]
Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2023 2:35 pm
The Dig - The Orthodoxy of the Essenes - Stephen Pidgeon with Jessica Knock, Frank Germano, and John Bar. [2.22.58]
Until the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS) mankind was reliant wholly upon fragments and copies which at best reached back to the second century in the modern epoch.
In 1948, this changed with the discovery of what appears to be ancient manuscripts dating from the fourth through first century BC. These have come to be known as the Dead Sea Scrolls.
While little of the past has been authoritatively ascertained, it is believed that the residents of the ancient city we now call Qumran, but then known as Damascus, was inhabited by a sect known as the Essenes. There are, however, historians, who are willing to debate this issue, including the issue of whether the authorship of these scrolls can be successfully and exclusively attributed to the Essenes. Some, for instance, believe that the Tsadoqiym – a group of Levites distinct from the practices of the Essenes – may have occupied the area prior to the monastic practices of this latter group, and may have had a hand in the crafting of specific scrolls.
Regardless of the dispute, we see a “canon” of sorts appearing in the selection of manuscripts to be preserved in the caves of Qumran – not only safe from the Greeks and the Romans who may have sought to destroy the relics of the prior culture entirely, but also safe from the corruption which would soon come under the Makkabiym, the Hyrcanians, and the Hasmoneans. In this selection we find the remnants of multiple copies of the Cepher Chanoch and the Cepher Yovheliym – a selection which preceded the Council of Jamnia by centuries and the Council of Trent by nearly two millennium.
Since the discovery of the DSS, we have now seen the emergence of a religious system based upon the conclusions drawn from these artifacts and manuscripts called Orthodox Essene Judaism.
This purpose of today’s discussion is not an endorsement of this set of beliefs, but rather an objective dig to look at what we find.
Until the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS) mankind was reliant wholly upon fragments and copies which at best reached back to the second century in the modern epoch.
In 1948, this changed with the discovery of what appears to be ancient manuscripts dating from the fourth through first century BC. These have come to be known as the Dead Sea Scrolls.
While little of the past has been authoritatively ascertained, it is believed that the residents of the ancient city we now call Qumran, but then known as Damascus, was inhabited by a sect known as the Essenes. There are, however, historians, who are willing to debate this issue, including the issue of whether the authorship of these scrolls can be successfully and exclusively attributed to the Essenes. Some, for instance, believe that the Tsadoqiym – a group of Levites distinct from the practices of the Essenes – may have occupied the area prior to the monastic practices of this latter group, and may have had a hand in the crafting of specific scrolls.
Regardless of the dispute, we see a “canon” of sorts appearing in the selection of manuscripts to be preserved in the caves of Qumran – not only safe from the Greeks and the Romans who may have sought to destroy the relics of the prior culture entirely, but also safe from the corruption which would soon come under the Makkabiym, the Hyrcanians, and the Hasmoneans. In this selection we find the remnants of multiple copies of the Cepher Chanoch and the Cepher Yovheliym – a selection which preceded the Council of Jamnia by centuries and the Council of Trent by nearly two millennium.
Since the discovery of the DSS, we have now seen the emergence of a religious system based upon the conclusions drawn from these artifacts and manuscripts called Orthodox Essene Judaism.
This purpose of today’s discussion is not an endorsement of this set of beliefs, but rather an objective dig to look at what we find.