Khirbet Qumrân: Scrolls, Sectarians, Subversives and Scepticism

Nicholas Peter Legh Allen

doi:doi:10.11648/j.ss.20221103.15

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Khirbet Qumrân: Scrolls, Sectarians, Subversives and Scepticism

Nicholas Peter Legh Allen

Published in Social Sciences (Volume 11, Issue 3)

Received: 4 January 2022 Accepted: 4 February 2022 Published: 8 June 2022

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Abstract

This paper re-visits the popular Qumrân-centric narrative as first formulated and introduced by Roland de Vaux in the 1950s. Although not totally implausible, the primary claims of this currently, leading hypothesis seem to be scientifically falsifiable on a number of counts. In addition, other important and seemingly underestimated evidence, better assists in describing an alternative reconstruction of Khirbet-Qumrân’s last days. As its point of departure, this paper employs a working precis of Roland de Vaux’s initial conjectures. Then, based on the more reliable data gained thus far, an attempt is made to corroborate or refute its claimed truth-value, step by step. As this learned narrative has been augmented and enhanced during the past 70 years, where relevant, the import of these refinements is dealt with in a similar manner. Here, the paper makes special reference to the seemingly undervalued yet pioneering work of Norman Golb, Yizhar Hirschfeld, Yitzhak Magen and Yuval Peleg. It also makes careful reference to any available data that may shed light on this problematic issue. Consequently, reference is made to ancient reports, known religious practices, historical records or material culture, in an attempt is made to suggest a more plausible hypothesis as regards the presence of both scriptural and sectarian literature in the Qumrân region. Accordingly, based on the available evidence, this paper confirms that there is simply insufficient substantiation to firmly place an Essene community at Khirbet Qumrân for any significant amount of time, let alone wishful claims of this once being the “mother” community in Judea.

Published in	Social Sciences (Volume 11, Issue 3)
DOI	10.11648/j.ss.20221103.15
Page(s)	162-174
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Khirbet Qumrân, Dead Sea Scrolls, Josephus, Philo, Pliny, Yaḥad, Sicarii, Zealots

References

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Nicholas Peter Legh Allen. (2022). Khirbet Qumrân: Scrolls, Sectarians, Subversives and Scepticism. Social Sciences, 11(3), 162-174. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20221103.15

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Nicholas Peter Legh Allen. Khirbet Qumrân: Scrolls, Sectarians, Subversives and Scepticism. Soc. Sci. 2022, 11(3), 162-174. doi: 10.11648/j.ss.20221103.15

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Nicholas Peter Legh Allen. Khirbet Qumrân: Scrolls, Sectarians, Subversives and Scepticism. Soc Sci. 2022;11(3):162-174. doi: 10.11648/j.ss.20221103.15

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@article{10.11648/j.ss.20221103.15,
  author = {Nicholas Peter Legh Allen},
  title = {Khirbet Qumrân: Scrolls, Sectarians, Subversives and Scepticism},
  journal = {Social Sciences},
  volume = {11},
  number = {3},
  pages = {162-174},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ss.20221103.15},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20221103.15},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ss.20221103.15},
  abstract = {This paper re-visits the popular Qumrân-centric narrative as first formulated and introduced by Roland de Vaux in the 1950s. Although not totally implausible, the primary claims of this currently, leading hypothesis seem to be scientifically falsifiable on a number of counts. In addition, other important and seemingly underestimated evidence, better assists in describing an alternative reconstruction of Khirbet-Qumrân’s last days. As its point of departure, this paper employs a working precis of Roland de Vaux’s initial conjectures. Then, based on the more reliable data gained thus far, an attempt is made to corroborate or refute its claimed truth-value, step by step. As this learned narrative has been augmented and enhanced during the past 70 years, where relevant, the import of these refinements is dealt with in a similar manner. Here, the paper makes special reference to the seemingly undervalued yet pioneering work of Norman Golb, Yizhar Hirschfeld, Yitzhak Magen and Yuval Peleg. It also makes careful reference to any available data that may shed light on this problematic issue. Consequently, reference is made to ancient reports, known religious practices, historical records or material culture, in an attempt is made to suggest a more plausible hypothesis as regards the presence of both scriptural and sectarian literature in the Qumrân region. Accordingly, based on the available evidence, this paper confirms that there is simply insufficient substantiation to firmly place an Essene community at Khirbet Qumrân for any significant amount of time, let alone wishful claims of this once being the “mother” community in Judea.},
 year = {2022}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - Khirbet Qumrân: Scrolls, Sectarians, Subversives and Scepticism
AU  - Nicholas Peter Legh Allen
Y1  - 2022/06/08
PY  - 2022
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20221103.15
DO  - 10.11648/j.ss.20221103.15
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SP  - 162
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PB  - Science Publishing Group
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AB  - This paper re-visits the popular Qumrân-centric narrative as first formulated and introduced by Roland de Vaux in the 1950s. Although not totally implausible, the primary claims of this currently, leading hypothesis seem to be scientifically falsifiable on a number of counts. In addition, other important and seemingly underestimated evidence, better assists in describing an alternative reconstruction of Khirbet-Qumrân’s last days. As its point of departure, this paper employs a working precis of Roland de Vaux’s initial conjectures. Then, based on the more reliable data gained thus far, an attempt is made to corroborate or refute its claimed truth-value, step by step. As this learned narrative has been augmented and enhanced during the past 70 years, where relevant, the import of these refinements is dealt with in a similar manner. Here, the paper makes special reference to the seemingly undervalued yet pioneering work of Norman Golb, Yizhar Hirschfeld, Yitzhak Magen and Yuval Peleg. It also makes careful reference to any available data that may shed light on this problematic issue. Consequently, reference is made to ancient reports, known religious practices, historical records or material culture, in an attempt is made to suggest a more plausible hypothesis as regards the presence of both scriptural and sectarian literature in the Qumrân region. Accordingly, based on the available evidence, this paper confirms that there is simply insufficient substantiation to firmly place an Essene community at Khirbet Qumrân for any significant amount of time, let alone wishful claims of this once being the “mother” community in Judea.
VL  - 11
IS  - 3
ER  -

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Nicholas Peter Legh Allen

School of Ancient Languages and Text Studies, North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa

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Nicholas Peter Legh Allen. (2022). Khirbet Qumrân: Scrolls, Sectarians, Subversives and Scepticism. Social Sciences, 11(3), 162-174. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20221103.15

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Nicholas Peter Legh Allen. Khirbet Qumrân: Scrolls, Sectarians, Subversives and Scepticism. Soc. Sci. 2022, 11(3), 162-174. doi: 10.11648/j.ss.20221103.15

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Nicholas Peter Legh Allen. Khirbet Qumrân: Scrolls, Sectarians, Subversives and Scepticism. Soc Sci. 2022;11(3):162-174. doi: 10.11648/j.ss.20221103.15

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@article{10.11648/j.ss.20221103.15,
  author = {Nicholas Peter Legh Allen},
  title = {Khirbet Qumrân: Scrolls, Sectarians, Subversives and Scepticism},
  journal = {Social Sciences},
  volume = {11},
  number = {3},
  pages = {162-174},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ss.20221103.15},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20221103.15},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ss.20221103.15},
  abstract = {This paper re-visits the popular Qumrân-centric narrative as first formulated and introduced by Roland de Vaux in the 1950s. Although not totally implausible, the primary claims of this currently, leading hypothesis seem to be scientifically falsifiable on a number of counts. In addition, other important and seemingly underestimated evidence, better assists in describing an alternative reconstruction of Khirbet-Qumrân’s last days. As its point of departure, this paper employs a working precis of Roland de Vaux’s initial conjectures. Then, based on the more reliable data gained thus far, an attempt is made to corroborate or refute its claimed truth-value, step by step. As this learned narrative has been augmented and enhanced during the past 70 years, where relevant, the import of these refinements is dealt with in a similar manner. Here, the paper makes special reference to the seemingly undervalued yet pioneering work of Norman Golb, Yizhar Hirschfeld, Yitzhak Magen and Yuval Peleg. It also makes careful reference to any available data that may shed light on this problematic issue. Consequently, reference is made to ancient reports, known religious practices, historical records or material culture, in an attempt is made to suggest a more plausible hypothesis as regards the presence of both scriptural and sectarian literature in the Qumrân region. Accordingly, based on the available evidence, this paper confirms that there is simply insufficient substantiation to firmly place an Essene community at Khirbet Qumrân for any significant amount of time, let alone wishful claims of this once being the “mother” community in Judea.},
 year = {2022}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - Khirbet Qumrân: Scrolls, Sectarians, Subversives and Scepticism
AU  - Nicholas Peter Legh Allen
Y1  - 2022/06/08
PY  - 2022
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20221103.15
DO  - 10.11648/j.ss.20221103.15
T2  - Social Sciences
JF  - Social Sciences
JO  - Social Sciences
SP  - 162
EP  - 174
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2326-988X
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20221103.15
AB  - This paper re-visits the popular Qumrân-centric narrative as first formulated and introduced by Roland de Vaux in the 1950s. Although not totally implausible, the primary claims of this currently, leading hypothesis seem to be scientifically falsifiable on a number of counts. In addition, other important and seemingly underestimated evidence, better assists in describing an alternative reconstruction of Khirbet-Qumrân’s last days. As its point of departure, this paper employs a working precis of Roland de Vaux’s initial conjectures. Then, based on the more reliable data gained thus far, an attempt is made to corroborate or refute its claimed truth-value, step by step. As this learned narrative has been augmented and enhanced during the past 70 years, where relevant, the import of these refinements is dealt with in a similar manner. Here, the paper makes special reference to the seemingly undervalued yet pioneering work of Norman Golb, Yizhar Hirschfeld, Yitzhak Magen and Yuval Peleg. It also makes careful reference to any available data that may shed light on this problematic issue. Consequently, reference is made to ancient reports, known religious practices, historical records or material culture, in an attempt is made to suggest a more plausible hypothesis as regards the presence of both scriptural and sectarian literature in the Qumrân region. Accordingly, based on the available evidence, this paper confirms that there is simply insufficient substantiation to firmly place an Essene community at Khirbet Qumrân for any significant amount of time, let alone wishful claims of this once being the “mother” community in Judea.
VL  - 11
IS  - 3
ER  -

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