Kevin Combs
RELI-3350.1
Chad Spigel
11-9-2009
Beyond the Essene Hypothesis
Since the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, scholars have come up with a variety of theories surrounding the origins and nature of the Essene community at Khirbet Qumran. Gabriele Boccaccini discusses his theory on the origins of the Essene movement, specifically at Khirbet Qumran, in his book Beyond the Essene Hypothesis. In his book, Boccaccini argues that the Essene movement was actually an offspring of Enochic Judaism during the Second Temple period, which later led to the parties of Jesus and John the Baptist. Boccaccini looks at the historiographical analysis and systematic analysis of the Essene community at Qumran to construct his argument. Boccaccini believes that Khirbet Qumran was not the only Essene settlement, but a group of Essenes which were further isolated from society, and followed a stricter covenant than the mainstream Essene community. Beyond the Essene Hypothesis does not suggest anything too radical regarding the Essene hypothesis; but, Boccaccini believes that the term “Qumran” and “Essene” should not be interchangeable with one another. Qumran was merely one example of an Essene settlement throughout the Palestinian area of that time.
Comparing the historical writings of Jewish to non-Jewish authors, Boccaccini largely looks at the writings of Philo; the Jewish historian, Flavius Josephus; and Pliny the Elder for historiographical analysis. Boccaccini looks at the ancient historical writings and their examination of the location and extent of the Essenes, as well as the Essenes attitudes towards communal ownership and marriage. Boccaccini notices some discrepancies between the writings of Philo and Josephus, and Pliny and Dio. He reaches the conclusion that the Jewish writers (Philo and Josephus) seemed to be describing a network of Essene communities found in Palestine, while Pliny and Dio appear to describe a single Essene settlement near the Dead Sea. He argues that Josephus and Philo talked about a larger Essene movement that was not extremely isolated like the Qumran community. Boccaccini claims that Pliny and Dio focused specifically on the peculiarities of the Qumran community because they were interested in exotic information to convey to their respective audiences. This historiographical evidence leads Boccaccini to believe that Essene Judaism was a larger movement than what is described by most scholars who subscribe the traditional Essene theory.
Boccaccini looks towards the variety of texts found in the Qumran Library for systematic analysis. He argues that the collection of texts found in the Library implies an ownership of the texts, but not an authorship, of the community at Qumran. Many of the pre-sectarian texts found in the Qumran library written before the Maccabean revolt hold both pro-Zadokite and anti-Zadokite sentiments. However texts written during the “formative age”, or after the Maccabean revolt, seem to expound Enochic Judaism ideals. The large amounts of Enochic literature found in the Qumran library, such as The Book of the Watchers, Daniel; the book of Dream Visions; Jubilee; The Temple Scroll; The Proto-Epistle of Enoch; the Apocalypse of Weeks, and the Halakhic Letter, appear to show a preference towards Enochic Judaism rather than Zadokite Judaism. Later Enochic texts, such as Similitudes, are not found in the Qumran library. Instead, sectarian documents, such as the Damascus Document and other texts written by the Qumran community, are more prevalent. The absence of later Enochic texts suggests that the Qumran community broke away from Enochic and Essene Judaism. Boccaccini argues that Enochic Judaism began to split with the Zadokite tradition around the time of the Maccabean revolt. One faction of Enochic Judaism, the Essenes, began to isolate themselves further and further, until they broke from the Enochic tradition completely. Later, a group of Essenes formed an even further isolated radical minority at Khirbet Qumran based on the teachings from the “teacher of righteousness”. The Essenes at Qumran are an isolated, radical example of the Essene movement. Boccaccini finds it necessary to go beyond finding random parallels between Enochic and Essene Judaism. After examining the historiographical and systematic analysis, he examines the common roots of Moses and Enoch between the two movements; the common ideology, specifically the rejection of individual predestination; and the common sociology of family, social, and religious life. Beyond the Essene Hypothesis claims that Enochic Judaism is the modern name for the mainstream Essene party, from which the Qumran community parted ways. Boccaccini believes the Enochic/Essene hypothesis answers the problems and discrepancies of the traditional Essene hypothesis without undoing over fifty years of academic research on the Dead Sea Scrolls.
I believe that Gabriele Boccaccini is fairly successful in proving his argument in Beyond the Essene Hypothesis. Boccaccini’s Enochic/Essene hypothesis does not question whether Essenes lived at Qumran; so he only needs to look at historical writings on the Essenes and Qumran, and the evidence found in the Qumran library to construct his argument concerning the origins of the Essenes. Boccaccini’s evidence concerning the historiographical analysis was especially convincing. I found the political career of John the Essene was probably the most critical piece of evidence in the historiographical analysis. Boccaccini says that “John was one of the six generals to whom the defense of Palestine was entrusted in the first year of the Jewish war” (Boccaccini 26). This is striking because “John the Essene was counted at the same rank as a personage like Josephus” (Boccaccini 26). I am convinced that this evidence shows that the Essenes were not an isolated, radical community, such as those living at Qumran. Instead, it seems that there were some Essenes who lived side by side along other Jews around the same time of the Qumran community. The analysis of the Qumran Library was extremely thorough and very systematic in the way the texts were presented. Boccaccini goes through the pre-Maccabean texts; the Enochic texts; the sectarian texts’ and finally, the texts that were not found at Qumran. This provides a very sound, logical progression of facts to the reader. Examining the content of the texts found in the Qumran Library, there appears to be a large amount of Enochic ideology. Boccaccini’s argument does not completely dismiss the traditional Essene hypothesis, so it is fairly easy for the reader to understand the new Enochic/Essene hypothesis. Boccaccini is very good at making the material understandable to the reader by constantly referring back to his hypothesis in the context of the evidence. The only problem with Beyond the Essene Hypothesis is the terminology can easily confuse the reader if he or she is not familiar with Second Temple Judaism. Boccaccini tries to correct this problem, by explaining the abbreviations of the numerous texts discussed in the book, in the preface of the book. Without a thorough understanding of the history of Judaism and its various texts, one could become lost in the wealth of information. However, the book is still easy to understand, and anyone with a relative amount of knowledge of Second Temple Judaism could follow Boccaccini main argument. Overall, Boccaccini makes his argument very clear by examining the evidence and putting it in context of Enochic and Essene Judaism during the Second Temple period.

Works Cited
Boccaccini, Grabiele. Beyond the Essene Hypothesis: The Parting of the Ways between Qumran and Enochic Judaism. Grand Rapids, Michigan/Canbridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1998. Print