Customer Reviews

The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Jewish Origins of Christianity

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This book provides valuable information for laypeople who want to understand the significance of the Dead Sea Scrolls in relation to Christian history. It gets pretty technical in parts, but the author's conclusions are clearly stated. The most important thesis he sets forth concerns the possiblity that there are fragments of the gospel of Mark and I Timothy among the Qumran scrolls. If this is true, then it is a clear indication that the New Testament literature was around earlier than many believe, for the community was destroyed in A.D. 68. I also like the way Thiede addresses, although through brief asides, some of the more outlandish theories about the Dead Sea Scrolls, obviously alluding to the "Holy Blood Holy Grail" genre of books. He also demolishes the popular bromide that the New Testament is "antisemitic."

Thiede reviews documents and fragments that have not previously been translated or have not been discussed widely. He has some detailed and exciting analyses, critically comparing with other proposals for reconstruction of fragments in Caves 4 and 7.

This book provides a thoroughly stimulating and satisfying read, handling the scenarios of history and culture in a flowing fashion that held my interest. Even with extensive notation and comparison with some other materials on the Dead Sea Scrolls, I read this technical book in only two days!

The author presents an especially fascinating reconstruction and detailed critical argument proposing that two small fragments are actually sections of two New Testament documents. He does this by way of a general review and criticism of attitudes and assumptions by previous scholars, who have automatically ruled out the possibility that documents we now know as the New Testament could have been collected at Qumran before the destruction of the place by the Romans in AD 63.

The two passages he convincingly details as present in Cave 7 are Mark 6:52-53, represented in document fragment 7Q5, and 1 Timothy 3:16-4:1, 3, represented in two document fragments designated together as 7Q4. He provides a detailed and highly reasoned proposal, in addition to the textual analysis, to show how the Qumran archives could have easily gotten documents that later became part of the New Testament.

Thiede also provides another great critical service in this volume, by reviewing all the known similarities and differences between the Essenes and the Nazarenes, later called Christians in Antioch and European history. Since the followers of Jesus were Jews, it is not startling that other messianic Jews would be interested in their documents. Especially it makes sense that an eclectic library like Qumran appears to have been would have had a copy of some or all available before AD 63.

He points out even more similarities than have previously been proposed, by criticizes the previous nave assumption that the Essenes were either a source of John the Baptist and Jesus' teachings, or that the Essene community became a new Christian community wholesale, or that they were totally unrelated to the new Nazarene messianic sect.

The author reviews very competently the already established fact that the first Nazarenes, or Christians, were fully Jewish, and the writers on the New Testament writing fully within the Jewish tradition. [In this regard, he also agrees with a growing numbers of commentators who feel that even Luke was not a Gentile, as traditionally proposed, but also a Jew. He points out that no commentator suggested this before Jerome in the 400s.]

Thiede emphasizes, however, that the Essenes would only have been a likely group to respond to the news that Jesus was the Messiah. He detailed the novel way in which the followers of Jesus interpreted the Old Testament passages to indicate that Jesus was the Messiah. He further uncovers more practical ties between the Essene movement and the disciples of Jesus during Jesus' lifetime.

I learned here for the first time that the Essenes had members all over Palestine and even in Syria, not just the well-known Qumran monastic community. He reviews much previous information and correlates that with recently discovered information to provide a revised, more complete picture of the Essenes and the overall messianic milieu of Judaism in the first century.

One reviewer claims the book breaks no ground, in that it is already established that Christianity has Jewish roots. While this is true, liberal theology has often claimed that the orthodox doctrines of the deity of Christ and his physical resurrection were not believed by his earliest followers. Thiede's claim, if true, that a fragment of 1 Timothy has been found among the scrolls would shatter this liberal perception. I also found the book compelling in its treatment of the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament. Thiede demonstrates evidence the Septuagint is based on a different and, perhaps, older Hebrew text than the Masorite copy we currently use for our translations. The ramifications may be profound, indicating the Septuagint is a more reliable version of the OT than the Masorite. This also has implications for orthodox Christianity, as the Septuagint has been used by Christians to effectively demonstrate Jesus as Messiah and God.

DSS and Christian Origins:
The major reason why the Dead Sea scrolls have been 'news' for almost fifty years is that they have repeatedly been connected with John the Baptist and the early Christians. The relation of Jesus sayings and the Dead Sea scrolls has been lingering, but attempts to demonstrate any direct relation between them turn out to be based on ungrounded evidence and cannot be taken as serious, concluded D. Harrington, the Jesuit DSS eminent expert. Moreover, it seems that the claim that Qumran Cave 7 contained fragments of the Greek New Testament is short of clear evidence. The Qumran movement and early Christianity are best portrayed as independent and parallel groups within Judaism in the first century. The vital significance of the Dead Sea scrolls for Christian origins is that they clarify and enrich our understanding of the Jewish milieu in which Jesus and the early Christians lived. The closest parallels between the Dead Sea scrolls and the Christian Scriptures occur only in theological language, eschatological consciousness, and community organization. The Hebrew Bible was the major fount of theological expressions and concepts for both parties. Both used old terms in new ways and new. Both groups shared a lively interest in the present and future "fulfillment" of Scripture. The obvious difference is the centrality accorded to Jesus as the focus of early Christian theological language. Both groups shared a genuine interest in the continuing fulfillment of Scripture.

Thiede on Magdalen Papyrus:
Carsten Thiede, announced in December 1994, his discovery of a first century AD fragments of the gospel of Matthew. The fragments, held in various museums, were reclassified and redated, using palæography, to around 70 AD. The fragments are written on both sides, conclusive proof that they came from a codex rather than a scroll. More fragments, published in 1956, were determined by Roca-Puig and Roberts to come from the same codex as the Magdalen fragements, a view which has remained the scholarly consensus. Thiede argued that the Magdalen Papyrus (P64: three papyri fragments of Matthew's Gospel) share similarities with handwriting from earlier papyri that should be thus redated between 70 and 100 AD. The Magdalen Papyrus, he postulated a direct copy of the original scroll written by the evangelist Matthew. since the Magdalen Papyrus uses 'Kyrios,' a sacred name abbreviation for Jesus, Thiede thence puts this Papyrus back within the lifetime of Jesus disciples, apostles, and contemporaries. Thiede's redating on those grounds overturns the conventional modern scholarship on the first three (synoptic) gospels. Thiede is supporting the evidence that Jesus was known to be divine by his contemporaries, arguing (P64) proves that in early Jesus movement, some have thought that Jesus, Son of God, was like God, and his name was treated as sacred.

DSS & Jewish Christianity:
José O'Callaghan, a Jesuit Spaniard, has argued that fragment (7Q5) is a New Testament text from the Gospel of Mark,6:52-53. This controversial assertion has been taken up again by the German scholar Carsten P.Thiede. He identified this fragment with a verse from Mark, making it the earliest extant New Testament document, dating somewhere between A.D. 30 and 60. Opponents consider that the fragment is tiny and requires so much reconstruction.
Late professor Theide, using microscopic laser scanning on the scrolls, reveals previously undetected texts, one of which is a fragment from the Gospel of Mark. Theide, who maintains the Jewish origins of the scrolls, has identified a fragment of Mark's Gospel which supports the ancient tradition of the Church of Alexandria that Mark's Gospel was in circulation in Alexandria, Egypt well before the destruction of the second Temple by Titus in 70AD. Coptic monastic traditions iterate that the converted Therapeutae sent the Gospel of Mark, who preached the Good News from 46 to 58 when he was martyred, to the Essenes, a contemporary allied community, to read and examine it.

Qualified Book Reviews:
"..., Theide maintains the historicity of the Gospels, while introducing new and fascinating material. In this volume Theide provides a balanced and informative understanding of the DSS and of the Jewish origins of Christianity. The scrolls, he says, "invite us to develop a new awareness of our roots." Anthony Cappello, Research assistant, Thomas More Centre.
"Thiede turns increasing attention to defending his oft-repeated theses: that the people of the scrolls and early followers of Jesus, though proponents of competing religious perspectives, were all Jews; that Cave 7 held early Christian writings kept at Qumran by the Essenes for the purpose of studying the views of their Jewish competitors; and that 7Q4 and 7Q5 are fragments of 1 Timothy and the Gospel of Mark." Rob Kugler, Gonzaga University

Carsten P. Theide:
Prof. Carsten Peter Thiede (8/8/1952 - 12/14/2004) was a German biblical scholar, best known for his textual criticism of the Dead Sea Scrolls, including the identification of the 7Q5 papyrus as a fragment of the Gospel of Mark. Thiede was an advocate for O'Callaghan's claims that numerous portions of the Qumran scrolls from Cave 7 are actually Christian New Testament texts from pre AD 70.

If you are interested in The Dead Sea Scrolls and what they may mean to us, skip this book. The key word in the title is "Christianity." This book is more about Christianity than it is about the Scrolls. Thiede is shown here to be a thinly veiled fundamentalist (i.e., with a biased predisposition) who passes himself off as a scholar.

The central attraction of the Scrolls is the question of what they might mean to Christianity, because there are many parallels or commonalities between the beliefs and practices written of in the Scrolls and evidenced at Qumran, and the beliefs and practices of Christianity. I was left scratching my head as I finished this book, as Thiede's arguments essentially attempt to strip the Scrolls of their meaning. The only thing he seems interested in finding in them is any sign of something that could be construed as supporting the uniqueness of Christianity and the earliest possible evidence of the existence of New Testament texts.

To this end, he examines the fragments that he believes to be from 1 Timothy and the Gospel of Mark, and ignores other, more significant evidence of ideas in Christianity that are found first in these writings of the Essenes.

On page 189, he states, "The Dead Sea Scrolls are not representative of all strands of Judaism, nor are the Essenes the only influential force behind early Judeo-Christian thought." But the Essenes don't have to be the *only* influential force behind early Judeo-Christian thought for their contribution to be highly meaningful, with important implications for the perception of the Christian belief system. He portrays this as an all-or-nothing situation, but it is not. The idea that the Essenes converted wholesale to Christianity is not necessary to the existence of an understanding here that profoundly impacts the origins of Christianity. I think it's similar to the attempt to debunk the theory of evolution simply by stating that since monkeys still exist, the theory of human evolution couldn't be true. If evolution is a reality, that's just not how it works. It's about a *mutation* that manages to thrive and become established in its own right. Such a situation does not require all of the original species to change into the new one, but it does build upon that original line. Again on page 189, Thiede states, "Thus, it is sobering and healthy to realize that many, if not most of the central early tenets of the Christian faith have no parallels, no 'inspiration', as it were, in the scrolls from Qumran." As someone who has read and studied many of the Qumran documents, I must say that this is simply not true.

To quote from the book once more, on page 202, Thiede states, "Could a Jew expect a suffering, crucified Messiah? Most scholars assume the wider context provides the answer, and this sounds plausible: the other Dead Sea Scrolls do not know such a suffering, killed Messiah." Well what then of the Teacher of Righteousness, who lived in the mid-first or mid-second century BCE? He was apparently stoned to death and hung on a tree (or crucified). Does that not set a precedent for a suffering, crucified messiah? How does that not qualify?

That's just one example of many gaping holes in Thiede's commentary. But then again, we shouldn't be surprised - fundamentalists are exquisitely skilled in willful ignorance.

Thiede's book is a waste of time. It adds nothing new to the analysis of the origins of Christianity. The Dead Sea Sect and the Jesus Movement were two reactions to the Roman conquest of Ancient Israel, both dependent on Jewish roots, both sensing apocalypse. While there are similarities between the movements, the important fact is that one failed and was eliminated, while the other succeeded.