Jesus and the Essenes

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a b "The Essenes and the origins of Christianity". The Jerusalem Post | Jpost.com . Retrieved 12 April 2022. For Orthodox Jewish scholars like Heinrich Graetz, however, Jesus could be identified as an Essene whose purpose was not to create a new religion, but rather to reform Judaism. Christianity was thus dependent on Judaism for its existence and its ideas. Similarly, Reform Jews like Kaufman Kohler could assert that John and Jesus were “members of the Essene party” and that the Essenes joined the early Church because that seemed to explain the history of Christianity in Jewish terms. Unfortunately, the Essenes have often been misrepresented in popular culture via various forgeries like Edmund Bordeaux Szekely’s New Age “ Essene Gospel of Peace,” a false “gospel” purported to be translated from an ancient Aramaic manuscript in the Vatican Library. Consequently, whether the Essenes have been championed by Deists, rationalists, spiritualists, or esotericists, there seems to be no shortage of bad Essene theories to choose from. Long before the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, therefore, the Essene hypothesis has been a theoretical persona non grata in scholarly circles.

Also 3 descriptions of communion have the bread being blessed first and the wine second, which was the Essene tradition for blessing the meals while the Pharisees did it wine first and bread second. The Essenes also lived in towns and cities, where members married. There was a community in Jerusalem; one of the gates into the city was known as the Essene Gate in the 1st century. The sect's name, which, in his view, does not refer to its books but to its followers who lived in caves or desert areas—an established Essene lifestyle; Barthélemy, D.; Milik, J.T.; de Vaux, Roland; Crowfoot, G.M.; Plenderleith, Harold; Harding, G.L. (1997) [1955]. "Introductory: The Discovery". Qumran Cave 1. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p.5. ISBN 0-19-826301-5 . Retrieved 31 March 2009.A rich diversity of ancient traditions contributing to a cohesive system formed from many cultures. The once entrenched idea that early Christian heresies emerged in opposition to some ancient, permanent orthodoxy, is utterly misleading. There were in fact many different competing 'Christianities' in the first few centuries AD. Gregory Doudna, A Narrative Argument that the Teacher of Righteousness was Hyrcanus II. Excerpted from pp. 95–107 of the book To the orthodox Christian community, it may be an understatement to say that Szekely’s books are controversial. 3. To the mystics and esotericists among us, his book has revealed a new way of viewing the early life of Jesus as a member of the Essenes, as were his parents Mary and Joseph, and his experiences with this community that influenced and molded his ministry. Wikipedia article on Szekely's authorship questions the authenticity and provenance of the source documents Szekely claims to have used.

The two following chapters aim to establish this relationship. In chapter 3 (“The Anointed Prophet”), Joseph makes some astute observations concerning claims of literary dependence. Similarities do not necessitate a literary dependence. Such claims “face formidable burdens of proof” (93). Joseph rightly notes that the question “is not whether these texts can be understood as ‘parallel’ developments but whether they should be” (93n129). When a verbatim quote appears across different texts (as often occurs in the Synoptic Gospels), the case for literary dependence is stronger, and the debate over the direction of the dependence can begin. When the similarities are thematic rather than formulaic, the argument is shakier. Thus, one of the more compelling examples Joseph advances is the use of Isaiah 61 in Matthew 11:4-5, Luke 7:22, and 4Q521. Relying on George Brooke, Joseph notes that nowhere else in Jewish texts of the Second Temple period is Isaiah 61 associated with resurrection (90). Burns, Joshua Ezra (2006). "Essene Sectarianism and Social Differentiation in Judaea After 70 C.E". Harvard Theological Review. 99 (3): 247–74. doi: 10.1017/S0017816006001246. S2CID 162491248.Our publication has been reviewed for educational use by Common Sense Education, Internet Scout (University of Wisconsin), Merlot (California State University), OER Commons and the School Library Journal. Deutsch, Nathaniel (6 October 2007). "Save the Gnostics". The New York Times . Retrieved 13 May 2022. According to Jewish writers Josephus and Philo, the Essenes numbered around four thousand, and resided in various settlements throughout Judaea. Conversely, Roman writer Pliny the Elder positioned them somewhere above Ein Gedi, on the west side of the Dead Sea. [5] [6] Pliny relates in a few lines that the Essenes possess no money, had existed for thousands of generations, and that their priestly class ("contemplatives") did not marry. Josephus gave a detailed account of the Essenes in The Jewish War ( c. 75 CE), with a shorter description in Antiquities of the Jews ( c. 94 CE) and The Life of Flavius Josephus ( c. 97 CE). Claiming firsthand knowledge, he lists the Essenoi as one of the three sects of Jewish philosophy [7] alongside the Pharisees and Sadducees. He relates the same information concerning piety, celibacy; the absence of personal property and of money; the belief in communality; and commitment to a strict observance of Sabbath. He further adds that the Essenes ritually immersed in water every morning (a practice similar to the use of the mikveh for daily immersion found among some contemporary Hasidim), ate together after prayer, devoted themselves to charity and benevolence, forbade the expression of anger, studied the books of the elders, preserved secrets, and were very mindful of the names of the angels kept in their sacred writings. Other similarities include high devotion to the faith even to the point of martyrdom, communal prayer, self denial and a belief in a captivity in a sinful world. [71]

For example, James C. VanderKam, "Identity and History of the Community". In The Dead Sea Scrolls after Fifty Years: A Comprehensive Assessment, ed. Peter W. Flint and James C. VanderKam, 2:487–533. Leiden: Brill, 1999. The earliest known proposer of this etymology was P. Melanchthon, in Johann Carion, Chronica, 1532, folio 68 verso. Among the other proposers before 1947, e.g., 1839 Isaak Jost, "Die Essaer," Israelitische Annalen 19, 145–7.Israel News Health & Wellness WORLD NEWS Middle East Business & Innovation Opinion Archeology Login Log Out The introduction ( “Rediscovering the Essenes in the Study of Christian Origins”) and the epilogue ( “Beyond the Essenes”) each emphatically argue in favor of an influence of the Essenes on the early Christian movement. Chapter 1 highlights some of the prominent similarities between the two, such as the significance of Isaiah 40:3 in the Essene text known as the Community Rule and in all four gospels (14), a text reminiscent of the Beatitudes (4Q525, on 17), and the mention of a Son of God (17-18). Joseph supplements these similarities with a caution against “parallelomania” (16), offering reservations concerning how one should proceed to interpret these similarities while keeping in mind the paucity of evidence (23). The epilogue, however, unequivocally proclaims that these claims have been established: Jesus was influenced by the Essenes, as was his movement, which was in ideological proximity to the Essenes, but cannot be defined as Essenic (164). The sharing of the communion cup, a remembrance of the life blood that we all share, and the ritual of baptism for the cleansing of sins John the Baptist performed in the Jordan River are two of these practices. They pre-date the advent of Jesus, and were adopted by Jesus and his cousin John to afford the early followers meaningful spiritual experiences as well as symbols to which they could relate.