In the Wilderness

Abstract

Abstract New insights into Early Judaism have flourished over the past generation due to the modern discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. The scrolls revealed a previously unknown literary collection attesting to the religious beliefs and practices of a sectarian Jewish community. The community voluntarily separated from other Jews, forming a highly structured society with a strong priestly self-understanding and dualistic, apocalyptic beliefs. Their vast literary collection includes (1) scriptural manuscripts and their interpretation, (2) communal rules, (3) legal writings, (4) psalms, hymns, and prayers, and (5) wisdom and apocalyptic writings. Aspects of the collection have been especially important for understanding how Palestinian Jewish traditions informed Christian origins, even as the church adapted to its broader Mediterranean contexts. New Testament traditions surrounding John the Baptist, the communal structures of the early church, and messianic beliefs strike remarkable continuities and differences with the literature of the Dead Sea Scrolls.