Essene sectarianism as a Judaic alternative to Pharisaism and Sadduceanism

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT:Essenism is, according to the data being discussed in this thesis, closelyassociated with the Dead Sea Scrolls material and had alienated itself from SecondTemple Judaism as manifested through both Pharisaism and Sadduceanism. Theproblem that presents itself is the fact that Essenism is sometimes seen, withPharisaism and Sadduceanism, as one of the three major trends within Second TempleJudaism, albeit schismatic in origin and nature.With Sadduceanism deriving its authority from the Temple and written Torah, andwith Pharisaism its authority from both the written Torah as well as the oral tradition ofthe Sages, this thesis attempts to determine the criteria to be applied to cults of theSecond Temple period in order for them to be classified as being Judaic. This is donein order to be able to establish what, in their own minds, set the Essenes apart from theother two prominent groups. That their motivation for exclusiveness must have beenvery strong becomes clear through the fact that, in their writings, the Essenes did notsee themselves as just another group within Judaism, but as the only true andlegitimate group.The ultimate aims of this thesis therefore are, firstly to find out exactly whatconstituted mainstream Second Temple Judaism according to certain historical andreligious factors as well as Judaic ha/achic interpretation. Secondly, the thesis attemptsto ascertain if Essenism met the determined criteria to be regarded as part ofmainstream Judaism, and if not, if it can be regarded as sectarian Judaism, or as aseparate religion altogether.In view of all the abovementioned criteria discussed, the probable conclusionwould be that the sectarians from Qumran never thought of themselves as anythingother than Jews within the ha/achic tradition, even though it may have been a ha/achathat may in certain respects have radically deviated from that of their fellow Jews. Theycan therefore rightly be regarded as part of the Judaic tradition of the Second Templeperiod.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University