Abstract
Since the archaeological discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1946, the word ‘Essene’ has made its way around the world–often raising a lot of questions. The discovery and subsequent study of the Dead Sea Scrolls have catapulted the Essenes into daylight.
The author of this Knol believes that many of them were the early Jewish Christians and future readings of the scrolls and further discoveries are likely to substantiate this view.
Remains of part of the main building at Qumran.
David Noel Freedman, Professor of Biblical Studies at the University of Michigan and Editor of the Anchor Bible, begins his paper titled,
Early Christianity and the Scrolls: An Inquiry, by stating:
“The thesis of this paper is that the differences between Essenes and Christians are much more numerous and significant than their similarities, that what they held in common was part of the biblical tradition and of the faith and practice of Judaism generally. Their differences reflect the true nature of the two movements, in light of accumulated evidence that they were diametrically opposed to each other in most critical matters. To put it a little differently, the Essenes were ultraorthodox conservatives while the Christians were radical revolutionaries and innovators, at least those whose Christianity survived and is recorded and reflected in the New Testament.
Before we proceed, a digressive word may be in order. There was no direct contact of which we have knowledge between the two groups. This was partly a matter of time and partly of space. Their period of overlap was relatively short, i.e., 30-70. The Essenes were a spent force when Christianity was beginning to be a force in Judaism and the world. Additionally, Christians were widely spread but were apparently centered in Galilee, while the Essenes were in Qumran. But there is a larger point: the Essenes were secretive and reclusive. They kept away from outsiders, including Christians. The chances of contact between the two were limited from the start: a Christian Essene was a contradiction in terms.” [1]
He goes onto writing:
“The New Testament is written in Greek. This is not amazing in itself, but it is significant, especially since the language of the Bible at that time was Hebrew with a small admixture of Aramaic. It is not hard to explain the use of Greek in the New Testament, but contrast that circumstance with the Essenes and their writings. They preserved and copied the Hebrew Bible, whereas the Bible of the church from almost the beginning was a Greek Bible and remained so, a partial explanation of the New Testament that imitates and is influenced by the Septuagint. It is fair to say that the Essenes avoided Greek; there are some scraps and fragments but there is no new literature in Greek. It is part of their isolation and secrecy and their tendency to look inward (i.e., in on themselves). Not only did they keep the Hebrew Scriptures, but they imitated biblical Hebrew in their own writings. They knew Mishnaic Hebrew and, doubtless, Aramaic and Greek but the overwhelming emphasis is on Hebrew, biblical Hebrew at that. The contrast is dramatic and stark. One is pushing the world away and making a closed world of its own, while the other is pushing out into the world, making the world its own. One can hardly imagine Essenes using Greek for any purpose while certainly, the church of the New Testament would rarely use anything else. Even though the movement led by Jesus was Semitic speaking at first, and Jesus himself doubtless used Aramaic and probably some Hebrew, practically nothing of that stratum of Christianity has survived. Just a word or phrase here and there, painstakingly translated and not always correctly explained.
Point three is essentially the same, but adds a critical element to the mix: the gentiles. Whatever the intention or expectations of Jesus and his intimate followers, there is no question that by the end of the first generation (ca. 70) there was a very large influx of gentiles into the church, and by the end of the second generation, ca. 100, the church was predominantly if not overwhelmingly gentile. The contrast with the Essenes could not be greater. It is so difficult to imagine the categories of Essene and gentile overlapping or conjoining at any point as to make the terms ultimately, if not a priori and from the beginning, mutually exclusive.” [2]
One of theways I intend to showpossible links of Essenes with Jesus is to accumulate all interactions between him and the early Christianswith the Essenes in this Knol.
H Spencer Lewis writes in his book
the Mystical Life of Jesus:
“The body (of Jesus) was placed in a special part of the tomb which had been pre-arragned for its reception, and physicians connected with the Essene Brotherhood were at hand to render every possible assistance in caring for the wounds.” [3][4]
In this age of information all the refutation of dogma of Trinitarian Christianity and their wrong assertions about history are hiding in plain view and open sight, we only have to tabulate them and accumulate the evidencein more unified sources like this Knol.
David Noel Freedman further states:
“The radical nature of the Christian movement is brought into focus by comparison with the Essenes. After 150-200 years the Essene community remained closed, totally ingrown and totally Jewish. By contrast Christianity moved out into the world and in the same length of time became totally gentile, totally Greek (and other languages), and totally other. There must have been extraordinary differences, built in from the earliest days.” [5]
Information about John the Baptist can also help us in settling the questions about links between Jesus and Essenes. Paul Johnson writes in his book,
the History of Christianity:
We can be almost certain that John the Baptist was, or had been, an Essene monk. He was recruiting not so much for the monastery but for the broader movement of the elite within the elite, carrying the cleansing and purifying process into the world outside, and thus hastening the apocalyptic moment when the war against the Sons of Darkness would begin. The Baptist is thus the link between the general reformist and nonconformist movement in Judaism and Jesus himself. Unfortunately, in terms of actual historical knowledge, he is a very weak link. In some ways he is a completely mysterious figure. His function, in the history of Christianity, was to attach elements of the Essene teaching to a consistent view of Jewish eschatology. John was an impatient man, as well as a wild-looking one: the Messiah was not merely coming—he was here! The apocalypse was rolling fast towards the people, so now was the time to repent and prepare. And then, in due course, Jesus appeared and was identified. This is the first glimpse, admittedly a vivid one, we get of John. There is one other glimpse, equally vivid, some years later, when he fell foul of Herod Antipas and lost his head. The rest is darkness. The second most important person in the history of Christianity remains enigmatic. Yet the synoptic gospels, and still more the Gospel according to John, emphasize the importance of the Baptist in the mission of Jesus, He is the operative agent who sets the whole thing in motion. The three synoptic writers, and the editor of John’s gospel, working within a different stream of knowledge, are clearly using very powerful oral traditions, or even written documents, dealing specifically with the Baptist’s work. Somewhere, behind our sources, or behind the sources of our sources, there was once the whole story of the Baptist as related by a follower or lieutenant. But the earliest Christian historians selected only what they regarded as strictly relevant to their purpose, and now the rest is irrecoverably lost. Our only non-Christian source, Josephus, shows that John was at one time an Essene. His account of John’s teaching, such as it is, accords closely with the Qumran Manual of Discipline; and of course his actual appearance is directly related to Essene prophecies, which it resembles in important details, as did his prophecies and sayings. But John was also moving away from Essene concepts, in the direction of what became Christianity. His baptism ceremony, unlike the repeated bathing-rites of the Essenes, is a once and for all affair (but he was not unique in this). Secondly, John thought God would intervene, admittedly in wrathful mood, without the assistance of the Essene army and its war-plan. John was not militaristic. Most important of all, he had broken away from the absolute exclusiveness of the Essenes, teaching that God’s special favours were to be offered to the entire Jewish people, not just to the sect. John was not yet a Universalist, but he was moving in that direction. He was, in short, a carrier, bringing certain key Essene doctrines out of their narrow, bellicose, racist and sectarian framework, and proclaiming them in a wider world. The logic of this analysis, then, is that the Baptist was in a sense Jesus’s teacher, and that the pupil improved on, expanded and transformed his master’s ideas. But it is at this point that our evidence breaks down. If anything, it points in another direction. John did not claim to teach the Messiah, merely to identify him; indeed, he specifically rejected any master-pupil relationship. The fact that Jesus was baptized by John does not imply any inferiority, submission or acknowledgement of higher wisdom. The trouble is that we do not know precisely what John taught. We do not know his history or education. We do not even know whether he had a complete theology or cosmology of his own, whether his eschatology was limited to the crude Messianism reflected in the gospels, or, as seems more likely, was elaborate and sophisticated. We do not even know his concept of Jesus’s status: it was obviously high, but how high—the key question? And anyway, how close were their contacts? How well did they know each other? How much, if anything, did either teach each other? Why did the Baptist make secret inquiries about Jesus’s mission and receive mysterious replies? The exotic story of the Baptist’s end, shorn of its romantic details, places him in a highly political posture and it is interesting that Herod Antipas did not like Jesus either. Was there, then, a political connection between these two religious innovators? Our ignorance of the Baptist inevitably clouds our view of the uniqueness of Jesus. Indeed, the historical problem of the Baptist, baffling as it is, serves merely as an introduction to the much greater problem of Jesus. There can, at least, be absolutely no doubt about his historical existence. Unfortunately, the Antiquities of Josephus (published about AD 93), so useful about other related topics, is virtually silent on the point. Josephus was a Hellenized Jew, a Romanophile, indeed a Roman general and historian whose work received imperial subsidies. The manuscript chain coming down to us inevitably passed through Christian control. Since Josephus was strongly opposed to Jewish irredentism, or any other sectarian movement which gave trouble to the authorities, he clearly adopted an anti-Christian posture. But this has been tampered with. Thus, he mentions the judicial murder of James by the high priest Ananias in AD 62, and calls James the brother ‘of Jesus, the so-called Christ’, in a way to suggest that he has already given an account of Jesus and his mission. But what has actually come down to us is a passage which describes Jesus as a wise man, a lover of truth, much beloved by his followers; it accepts his miracles and resurrection and hints strongly at his divinity. The passage is plainly a non-too-ingenious Christian invention and what Josephus actually wrote has gone. Attempts to reconstruct it have not so far won general acceptance. [6]
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The
Essenes( Greek: Εσσηνοι, Εσσαιοι, or Οσσαιοι;Essēnoi, Essaioi, Ossaioi) were a Jewish religious group that flourished from the 2nd century BCE to the 1st century CE that some scholars claim seceded from the Zadokite priests [1] . Being much fewer in number than the Pharisees and the Sadducees (the other two major sects at the time) the Essenes lived in various cities but congregated in communal life dedicated to asceticism, voluntary poverty, and abstinence from worldly pleasures, including marriage and daily baptisms. Many separate but related religious groups of that era shared similar mystic , eschatological , messianic , and ascetic beliefs. These groups are collectively referred to by various scholars as the “Essenes.” Josephus records that Essenes existed in large numbers, and thousands lived throughout Judæa. The Essenes believed they were thelast generation of the last generationsand anticipated Teacher of Righteousness , Aaronic High Priest , and High Guard Messiah , similar to the Prophet, Priest and King expectations of the Pharisees. [ citation needed ]
The Essenes have gained fame in modern times as a result of the discovery of an extensive group of religious documents known as the Dead Sea Scrolls , commonly believed to be their library. These documents include preserved multiple copies of the Hebrew Bible untouched from as early as 300 BCE until their discovery in 1946. Some scholars, however, dispute the notion that the Essenes wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls. [2] One scholar, Rachel Elior , even argues that the group never existed. [3][4][5]
[edit] Contemporary ancient sources
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The earliest mention of the Essenes is by the Jewish philosopher Philo of Alexandria ( c. 20 BCE–54 CE). Philo told his readers that there were more than 4,000 Essenes (Essaioi) living in villages throughout Palestinian Syria [6] . Among their neighbours they were noted for their love of God and their concerns with piety, honesty, morality, philanthropy, holiness, equality, and freedom. The holy Essenes did not marry and lived a celibate life, and practiced communal residence, money, property, food and clothing. They observed the Sabbath according to all the strictest instructions and spent much of their time studying the Law according to philosophical and allegorical interpretations. They cherished freedom, possessed no slaves, and rejected the use of weapons or participation in commerce. Philo did not mention any names or places, nor any background to the origins of this group.
The next reference is by the Roman writer Pliny the Elder(died c. 79 CE) in his
Natural History(N’H,V,XV). Pliny relates in a few lines that the Essenes do not marry, possess no money, and had existed for thousands of generations. Unlike Philo, who did not mention any particular geographical location of the Essenes other than the whole land of Israel, Pliny places them in Ein Gedi, next to the Dead Sea.
A little later Josephusgave a detailed account of the Essenes in
The Jewish War(c. 75 CE) with a shorter description inAntiquities of the Jews(c. 94 CE) and The Life of Flavius Josephus(c. 97 CE). Claiming first hand knowledge, he lists theEssenoias one of the three sects of Jewish philosophy [7] alongside the Pharisees and the Sadducees . He relates the same information concerning piety, celibacy, the absence of personal property and of money, the belief in communality and commitment to a strict observance of the Sabbath. He further adds that the Essenes ritually immersed in water every morning, ate together after prayer, devoted themselves to charity and benevolence, forbade the expression of anger, studied the books of the elders, preserved secrets, and were very mindful of the names of the angels kept in their sacred writings.
Pliny, also a geographer and explorer, located them in the desert near the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea , where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in the year 1947 by Muhammed edh-Dhib and Ahmed Mohammed, two Bedouin shepherds of the Ta’amireh tribe. [8]
[edit] Name
Josephususes the name
Essenesin his two main accounts [9][10] as well as in some other contexts (“an account of the Essenes”; [11] “the gate of the Essenes”; [12] “Judas of the Essene race”; [13]but some manuscripts read hereEssaion; “holding the Essenes in honour”; [14] “a certain Essene named Manaemus”; [15] “to hold all Essenes in honour”; [16] “the Essenes”; [17][18][19]). In several places, however, Josephus hasEssaios, which is usually assumed to meanEssene(“Judas of theEssaiosrace”; [20]“Simon of theEssaiosrace”; [21]“John theEssaios“; [22]“those who are called by usEssaioi“; [23]“Simon a man of theEssaiosrace” [24]). Philo’s usage isEssaioi, although he admits this Greek form of the original name that according to his etymology signifies “holiness” to be inexact. [25]Pliny’s Latin text hasEsseni. [26] Josephus identified the Essenes as one of the three major Jewish sects of that period. [27]
Gabriele Boccaccini implies that a convincing etymology for the name Essene has not been found, but that the term applies to a larger group within Palestine that also included the Qumran community. [28]
It was proposed before the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered that the name came into several Greek spellings from a Hebrew self-designation later found in some Dead Sea Scrolls, ‘osey hatorah, “observers of torah.” [29] Though dozens of etymology suggestions have been published, this is the only etymology published before 1947 that was confirmed by Qumran text self-designation references, and it is gaining acceptance among scholars. [30]It’s recognized as the etymology of the form
Ossaioi(and note that Philo also offered an O spelling) andEssaioiandEssenispelling variations have been discussed by VanderKam, Goranson and others. In medieval Hebrew (e.g. Sefer Yosippon)Hassidim(“the pious ones”) replaces “Essenes”. While this Hebrew name is not the etymology ofEssaioi/Esseni, the Aramaic equivalentHesi’imknown from Eastern Aramaic texts has been suggested [31]
[edit] Location
Remains of part of the main building at Qumran.
According to Josephus, the Essenes had settled “not in one city” but “in large numbers in every town”. [32]Philo speaks of “more than four thousand”
Essaioiliving in “Palestine and Syria”, [33] more precisely, “in many cities of Judaea and in many villages and grouped in great societies of many members”. [34]
Pliny locates them “on the west side of the Dead Sea, away from the coast… [above] the town of Engeda “. [26]
Some modern scholars and archaeologists have argued that Essenes inhabited the settlement at Qumran , a plateau in the Judean Desert along the Dead Sea , citing Pliny the Elder in support, and giving credence that the Dead Sea Scrolls are the product of the Essenes. This view, though not yet conclusively proven, has come to dominate the scholarly discussion and public perception of the Essenes. [35]
Josephus’ reference to a “gate of the Essenes” in his description of the course of “the most ancient” of the three walls of Jerusalem, [12] in the Mount Zion area, [36] perhaps suggests an Essene community living in this quarter of the city or regularly gathering at this part of the Temple precincts.
[edit] Rules, customs, theology and beliefs
The accounts by Josephus and Philo show that the Essenes led a strictly celibate and communal life– often compared by scholars to later Christianmonasticliving– although Josephus speaks also of another “
rankof Essenes” that did get married. [37] According to Josephus, they had customs and observances such as collective ownership, [38][39] elected a leader to attend to the interests of them all whose orders they obeyed, [40] were forbidden from swearing oaths[41] and sacrificing animals , [42] controlled their temper and served as channels of peace, [41] carried weapons only as protection against robbers, [43] had no slaves but served each other [44] and, as a result of communal ownership, did not engage in trading . [45] Both Josephus and Philo have lengthy accounts of their communal meetings, meals and religious celebrations.
After a total of three years’ probation, [46] newly joining members would take an oath that included the commitment to practice piety towards “the Deity” (το θειον) and righteousness towards humanity, to maintain a pure lifestyle, to abstain from criminal and immoral activities, to transmit their rules uncorrupted and to preserve the books of the Essenes and the names of the Angels. [47] Their theology included belief in the immortality of the soul and that they would receive their souls back after death. [18][48] Part of their activities included purification by water rituals, which was supported by rainwater catchment and storage.
The Church Father Epiphanius (writing in the fourth century CE) seems to make a distinction between two main groups within the Essenes: [31]“
Of those that came before his [Elxai, an Ossaean prophet] time and during it, the Ossaeans and the Nazarean.“. [49] Epiphanius describes each group as following:
The Nazarean– they were Jews by nationality– originally from Gileaditis, Bashanitis and the Transjordan… They acknowledged Moses and believed that he had received laws– not this law, however, but some other. And so, they were Jews who kept all the Jewish observances, but they would not offer sacrifice or eat meat. They considered it unlawful to eat meat or make sacrifices with it. They claim that these Books are fictions, and that none of these customs were instituted by the fathers. This was the difference between the Nazarean and the others… [50]
After this [Nazarean] sect in turn comes another closely connected with them, called the Ossaeans. These are Jews like the former… originally came from Nabataea, Ituraea, Moabitis and Arielis, the lands beyond the basin of what sacred scripture called the Salt Sea… Though it is different from the other six of these seven sects, it causes schism only by forbidding the books of Moses like the Nazarean. [49]
If it is correct to identify the community at Qumran with the Essenes (and that the community at Qumran are the authors of the Dead Sea Scrolls ), then according to the Dead Sea Scrolls the Essenes’ community school was called “Yahad” (meaning “unity”) in order to differentiate themselves from the rest of the Jews who are repeatedly labeled “The Breakers of the Covenant”.
[edit] Scholarly discussion
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The Essenes are discussed in detail by Josephus and Philo .
Most scholars believe that the community at Qumran that allegedly produced the Dead Sea Scrolls was an offshoot of the Essenes; however, this theory has been disputed by some, for example, by Norman Golb .
Golb, for instance, uses arguments claiming that the primary research on the Qumran documents and ruins (by Father Roland de Vaux, from the
École Biblique et Archéologique de Jérusalem) lacked scientific method, and drew wrong conclusions that comfortably entered the academic canon. For Golb, the amount of documents is too extensive and includes many different writing styles and calligraphies; the ruins seem to have been a fortress, used as a military base for a very long period of time– including the 1st Century – so they could not have been inhabited by the Essenes; and the large graveyard excavated in 1870, just 50 metres east of the Qumran ruins was made of over 1200 tombs that included many women and children– Pliny clearly wrote that the Essenes that lived near the Dead Sea “had not one woman, had renounced all pleasure … and no one was born in their race”. Golb’s book presents observations about de Vaux’s premature conclusions and their uncontoverted acceptance by the general academic community. He states that the documents probably stemmed from various libraries in Jerusalem, kept safe in the desert from the Roman invasions. [51]
Other scholars refute these arguments.
Another issue is the relationship between the
Essaioiand Philo’sTherapeutaeandTherapeutrides. It may be argued [ by whom? ] that he regarded theTherapeutaeas a contemplative branch of theEssaioiwho, he said, pursued an active life. [52]
One theory on the formation of the Essenes suggested the movement was founded by a Jewish high priest, dubbed by the Essenes the Teacher of Righteousness , whose office had been usurped by Jonathan (of priestly but not Zadokite lineage), labeled the “man of lies” or “false priest”. [4][5] Others follow this line and a few argue that the Teacher of Righteousness was not only the leader of the Essenes at Qumran, but was also identical to the original Jesus about 150 years before the time of the Gospels. [35]
[edit] Connections with Kabbalah
According to a Jewish legend, one of the Essenes, named Menachem, had passed at least some of his mystical knowledge to the Talmudic mystic Nehunya ben ha-Kanah , [53] to whom the Kabbalistic tradition attributes Sefer ha-Bahir and, by some opinions, Sefer ha-Kanah , Sefer ha-Peliah and Sefer ha-Temunah . Some Essene rituals, such as daily immersion in the Mikvah , coincide with contemporary Hasidic practices; some historians had also suggested, that name “Essene” is a Hellenized form of the word “Hasidim” or “Hasin” (“pious ones”). However, the legendary connections between Essene and Kabbalistic tradition are not verified by modern historians.
[edit] Modern Essenes
The modern pseudo-Essene movement [ weaselwords ] “is directly derivative of two occult bestsellers,
The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ, by Levi H. Dowling; andThe Mystical Life of Jesus, by Rosicrucian author H. Spencer Lewis , and possesses no authentic ties to the ancient Essene movement, [54] Other pseudo-Essene [ weaselwords ] writers include the Rev. Gideon Ousely and Dr. Edmund Bordeaux Szekely , both of whom assert that the Essene teachings had been hidden and assimilated into many mystical spiritual traditions around the world, where the teachings were hidden within ancient libraries. Before all of these the Theosophists brought a bit of focus on the Essenes/Nazareans, and Theosophy influenced some Rosicrucians and much of modern occultism as well as agreed with some principles common to both the ancient and so-called hidden teachings.
See also
CtistaeDead Sea scrollsEbioniteEin GediJewish eschatologyMount CarmelQumranTherapeutaeVegetarianism and religionHellenistic Judaism
References
^ F.F. Bruce, Second Thoughts On The Dead Sea Scrolls. Paternoster Press, 1956
^ Hillel Newman, Ph.D Bar Ilan University: Proximity to Power and Jewish Sectarian Groups of the Ancient Period Brill ISBN 9004146997^ Ilani, Ofri (13 March 2009). “Scholar: The Essenes, Dead Sea Scroll ‘authors,’ never existed” . Haaretz . http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1070797.html . Retrieved 17 March 2009.
^ ab McGirk, Tim (16 March 2009). “Scholar Claims Dead Sea Scrolls ‘Authors’ Never Existed” . Time . http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1885421,00.html . Retrieved 17 March 2009.
^ ab“Rachel Elior Responds to Her Critics” . Jim West. 15 March 2009. http://jwest.wordpress.com/2009/03/15/rachel-elior-responds-to-her-critics/ . Retrieved 17 March 2009. [ unreliable source? ] ^ Every Good Man is Free 75
^Josephus (c. 75). The Wars of the Jews . 2.119
^ Barthélemy, D.; J. T. Milik , Roland de Vaux , G. M. Crowfoot, Harold Plenderleith , George L. Harding (1997) [1955]. “Introductory: The Discovery” . Qumran Cave 1 . Oxford : Oxford University Press . p.5. ISBN0-19-826301-5 . http://books.google.com/books?id=iVa8BQGO0PIC&pg=PA5 . Retrieved 31 March 2009.
^Josephus (c. 75). The Wars of the Jews . 2.119, 158, 160
^Josephus (c. 94). Antiquities of the Jews . 13.171-2
^Josephus (c. 94). Antiquities of the Jews . 13.298
^ abJosephus (c. 75). The Wars of the Jews . 5.145
^Josephus (c. 94). Antiquities of the Jews . 13.311
^Josephus (c. 94). Antiquities of the Jews . 15.372
^Josephus (c. 94). Antiquities of the Jews . 15.373
^Josephus (c. 94). Antiquities of the Jews . 15.378
^Josephus (c. 94). Antiquities of the Jews . 18.11
^ abJosephus (c. 94). Antiquities of the Jews . 18.18
^Josephus (c. 97). The Life of Flavius Josephus . 10
^Josephus (c. 75). The Wars of the Jews . I.78
^Josephus (c. 75). The Wars of the Jews . 2.113
^Josephus (c. 75). The Wars of the Jews . 2.567; 3.11
^Josephus (c. 94). Antiquities of the Jews . 15.371
^Josephus (c. 94). Antiquities of the Jews . 17.346
^Philo (c. 20–54). Quod Omnis Probus Liber . XII.75-87
^ abPliny the Elder (c. 77). Natural History . 5.73.
^And when I was about sixteen years old, I had a mind to make trim of the several sects that were among us. These sects are three: – The first is that of the Pharisees, the second that Sadducees, and the third that of the Essenes, as we have frequently told you – The Life of Josephus Flavius, 2^ Boccaccini, Gabriele (1998). Beyond the Essene hypothesis: the parting of the ways between Qumran and Enochic Judaism . Grand Rapids, Michigan : William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company . p. 47 . ISBN0-8028-4360-3 . OCLC37837643 .
^ Goranson, Stephen (1999). “Others and Intra-Jewish Polemic as Reflected in Qumran Texts”. in Peter W. Flint and James C. VanderKam. The Dead Sea Scrolls after Fifty Years: A Comprehensive Assessment . 2 . Leiden : Brill Publishers . pp.534–551. ISBN90-04-11061-5 . OCLC230716707 .
^ For example, James C. VanderKam, “Identity and History of the Community.” In The Dead Sea Scrolls after Fifty Years: A Comprehensive Assessment, ed. Peter W. Flint and James C. VanderKam, 2:487–533. Leiden: Brill, 1999. The earlies known proposer of this etymology was P. Melanchthon, in J. Carion, Chronica, 1532, folio 68 verso. Among the other proposers before 1947, e.g., 1839 Isaak Jost, “Die Essaer,” Israelitische Annalen 19, 145–7.
^ abLightfoot, Joseph Barber (1875). “On Some Points Connected with the Essenes” . St. Paul’s epistles to the Colossians and to Philemon: a revised text with introductions, notes, and dissertations . London: Macmillan Publishers . OCLC6150927 . http://philologos.org/__eb-jbl/essenes.htm . Retrieved 17 March 2009.
^Josephus (c. 75). The Wars of the Jews . 2.124
^Philo (c. 20–54). Quod Omnis Probus Liber . XII.75
^Philo . Hypothetica . 11.1. in Eusebius . Praeparatio Evangelica . VIII
^ abEllegård, Alvar ; Jesus – One Hundred Years Before Christ: A Study In Creative Mythology , (London 1999).
^cf. map of ancient Jerusalem^Josephus (c. 75). The Wars of the Jews . 2.160–161
^Josephus (c. 75). The Wars of the Jews . 2.122
^Josephus (c. 94). Antiquities of the Jews . 18.20.
^Josephus (c. 75). The Wars of the Jews . 2.123, 134
^ abJosephus (c. 75). The Wars of the Jews . 2.135
^ Philo, §75 [ verification needed ] ^Josephus (c. 75). The Wars of the Jews . 2.125
^Josephus (c. 94). Antiquities of the Jews . 18.21
^Josephus (c. 75). The Wars of the Jews . 2.127
^Josephus (c. 75). The Wars of the Jews . 2.137–138. Josephus’ mention of the three year duration of the Essene probation may be compared with the phased character of the entrance procedure in the Qumran Rule of the Community [1QS; at least two years plus an indeterminate initial catechetical phase, 1QS VI]. The provisional surrender of property required at the beginning of the last year of the novitiate derives from actual social experience of the difficulties of sharing property in a fully communitarian setting, cf. Brian J. Capper, ‘The Interpretation of Acts 5.4’, Journal for the Study of the New Testament 19 (1983) pp. 117-131; idem, ‘”In der Hand des Ananias.” Erwägungen zu 1QS VI,20 und der urchristlichen Gütergemeinschaft’, Revue de Qumran 12(1986) 223-236; Eyal Regev, “Comparing Sectarian Practice and Organization: The Qumran Sect in Light of the Regulations of the Shakers, Hutterites, Mennonites and Amish”, Numen 51 (2004), pp. 146-181.
^Josephus (c. 75). The Wars of the Jews . 2.139–142
^Josephus (c. 75). The Wars of the Jews . 2.153–158
^ abEpiphanius of Salamis (c. 378). Panarion . 1:19
^Epiphanius of Salamis (c. 378). Panarion . 1:18
^Golb, Norman (1996). Who wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls?: the search for the secret of Qumran . New York City: Simon & Schuster . ISBN0-684-80692-4 . OCLC
References
- Jesus in History and Myth. Contributors: R. Joseph Hoffmann - editor, Gerald A. Larue - editor. Publisher: Prometheus Books. Place of Publication: Buffalo, NY. Publication Year: 1986. Page Number: 97.
- Jesus in History and Myth. Contributors: R. Joseph Hoffmann - editor, Gerald A. Larue - editor. Publisher: Prometheus Books. Place of Publication: Buffalo, NY. Publication Year: 1986. Page Number: 98-99.
- http://www.alislam.org/library/books/Tomb-of-Jesus.pdf
- H Spencer Lewis. The Mystical Life of Jesus. Fifth edition. Page 266.
- Jesus in History and Myth. Contributors: R. Joseph Hoffmann - editor, Gerald A. Larue - editor. Publisher: Prometheus Books. Place of Publication: Buffalo, NY. Publication Year: 1986. Page Number: 99.
- Paul Johnson. The History of Christianity. 1979. Pages 25-28.
Is the West ready for Islam? 
Zia Shah
Dead sea scrolls and the Essenes — Here is a quote from Review of Religions:In 1947, a bedouin in the Judaean desert near the Dead Sea came across a cave with ancient scrolls hidden in earthen jars. More scrolls were discovered in the years to 1956 across 11 caves. Prior to the appreciation of the significance of these scrolls, many attempts had been made to sell them as relics. In the fifty years since, scholars have tried to translate and understand the scrolls. Much more is known about them now, but the fact remains that although they are clearly related to Judaism and the hope for the arrival of their Messiah, it is not certain whether these documents belong to mainstream Jews or sects such as Essenes and Ebionites, or may even be the earliest documents of the early Jewish-Christians. The discovery has ignited debate around the subject. Scholars have started to remember that Christians were originally Jews and therefore that the two traditions share the same root. A more detailed analysis of the scrolls has unearthed an account of a Teacher of Righteousness who was trying to bring Jews back to God, and a Wicked Priest who betrayed him and led people astray. To this day, scholars argue over the identity of these characters with candidates being Jesus( a s ), James (described as his brother), Paul, John the Baptist or even the earlier JewishHasmonean priests.Review an article by Fazal Ahmad from UK:http://www.reviewofreligions.org/download/RR200212.pdf#page=36