arnoldo

What parallels, if any exists between the jewish sect which produced the Dead Sea Scrolls and the jewish sect which may've led to christianty?

Some possible parallels;

• Both produced texts which were possibly subjected to change over time
  
  Both proclaimed a new covenant of sorts (the DSS sect wrote concerning a renewed covenant)
  
  Both had a leader which may/may not have been historical (the DSS sect proclaimed their leader " The Righteous Teacher")
  
  Both had leaders who were alleged to have confronted the religous authorities
  
  Both did not necessarily believe that sacrifices in the temple were required (the DSS sect offered prayers instead of sacrifices until temple purification was completed)
  
  Both practiced water purification rites

More info on the dead sea scrolls is available in the following scholarly podcast.

http://msatlow.blogspot.com/2009/09/...-dead-sea.html

mountainman

None.

jgreen44

I have not delved into it yet, but you might want to check out James the Brother of Jesus: The Key to Unlocking the Secrets of Early Christianity and the Dead Sea Scrolls by Robert H. Eisenman (or via: amazon.co.uk).

bacht

You could say that these people were similar to Christians in withdrawing from the mainstream rather than challenging it militarily like the Zealots.

The Qumran sectarians seem to have been the first to have officially rejected the temple establishment in post-exilic times, though the earlier temple of Elephantine and the contemporary little temple of Onias both raise the question of how normative the Jerusalem group really was. Synagogues were already established in the diaspora, so not having direct access to the Mosaic rites may not have been troubling for many Jews.

DCHindley

Arnoldo,

You might try leafing through the early volumes of Discoveries in the Judean Desert, which published translations of various DDS texts and also contained commentary and such.

Also, early editions of Geza Vermes' The Dead Sea Scrolls in English makes some comparisons that later editions do not.

For example, from the 2nd edition (1975):

In my translation of the text I have rendered Mebakker as 'Guardian'. Literally it means 'overseer', someone who looks over the welfare and spiritual direction of the people in his care. The Greek synonym is episkopos, and its English equivalent, 'bishop'; but 'bishop' in the context of a Jewish sect seems inapt, and 'overseer' smacks more of a gang of labourers than of a religious community. Hence 'Guardian'.

There is nothing similar I can find in my 4th edition (1995). Instead, he makes some disparaging comments about later conjectures linking the Scrolls to primitive Christianity by Allegro, Eisemnan and Thiering, saying "in my opinion these theories fail the basic credibility test - they do not spring from, but are foisted on, the texts." He refers readers to his review of Eisemnan's The Dead Sea Scrolls Uncovered in the London Times Literary Supplement (TLS) of Dec 4, 1992, which is online here.

Also, Theodor Gaster's The Dead Sea Scriptures (the 3rd edition at least, 1976) has an "Analytic Index" that covers the organization and offices mentioned in the various scrolls, and is not afraid to draw parallels to early Christianity. There do not appear to be any more recent editions of this book.

DCH