Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The Essenes (/ ˈ ɛ s iː n z, ɛ ˈ s iː n z /; Hebrew: אִסִּיִים , ʾĪssīyīm; Greek: Ἐσσηνοί, Ἐσσαῖοι, or Ὀσσαῖοι, Essenoi, Essaioi, Ossaioi) or Essenians were a mystic Jewish sect during the Second Temple period that flourished from the 2nd century BCE to the 1st century CE.
The Essenes were apocalyptic ascetics, one of the three (or four) major Jewish schools of the time, although they were not mentioned in the New Testament. [7] Some scholars theorize that Jesus was an Essene, or close to them.
While the vast majority of scholars would argue that a Jewish religious community in the Second Temple period occupied the site at Qumran and owned the scrolls found in caves nearby, a larger issue related to their identity as "Essenes" continues to be debated to this day. Striking similarities are found between the site of Qumran and rites and ...
The Sadducees doubted the possibility of gentiles becoming Jews but were tolerant of cross-cultural interactions. The Essenes community believed gentiles, including proselytes, were ritually impure, but the Essenes were even stricter and regarded other Jews as impure until they completed a prolonged initiation ritual.
The books of Maccabees were downplayed and relegated in the Jewish tradition and not included in the Jewish Tanakh (Hebrew Bible); it would be Christians who would produce more art and literature referencing the Maccabees during the medieval era, as the books of Maccabees were included in the Catholic and Orthodox Biblical canon. [112]
The main point of departure from the Qumran–Essene theory is hesitation to link the Dead Sea Scrolls specifically with the Essenes. Most proponents of the Qumran–Sectarian theory posit a group of Jews living in or near Qumran were responsible for the Dead Sea Scrolls but do not necessarily conclude that the sectarians were Essenes.
Qumran was inhabited by a Jewish sect of the late Second Temple period, which most scholars identify with the Essenes; however, other Jewish groups were also suggested. [3] [4] [5] It was occupied most of the time until 68 CE and was destroyed by the Romans during the First Jewish–Roman War, possibly as late as 73 CE.
The Essenes were a mystic Jewish sect during the Second Temple period that flourished from the second century BCE to the first century CE. [117] Early Mandaean religious concepts and terminologies recur in the Dead Sea Scrolls, and Yardena has been the name of every baptismal water in Mandaeism. [118]