From Qumran to the Yaḥad: A New Paradigm of Textual Development for the Community Rule

By: Schofield, Alison

Since the discovery of the Cave 4 versions of The Community Rule (Serekh ha-Yaḥad or S), scholars have been perplexed about its complex textual history. This important charter material for the Dead Sea Scrolls' authors appears in alternate versions--ones with contradictory legal prescriptions and opposing self-references--but exhibits no clear order of chronological development. Benefitting from the entire Qumran library now available to us, this book offers a new, broader model for reading S that better accounts for the long and diverse history behind the text. The resulting paradigm challenges the Qumrancentric lens through which many read the "sectarian texts" and offers a fresh way of thinking about sectarian community formation among the authors of the Scrolls.

• Format: Leather Bound
• Language: English
• ISBN: 9004170073
• ISBN13: 9789004170070
• Release Date: November 2008
• Publisher: Brill
• Length: 366 Pages
• Weight: 1.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.6" x 9.6"