Editing Essenes (section)

== Scholarly discussion ==

[[Josephus]] and [[Philo]] discuss the Essenes in detail. Most scholars{{citation needed|date=February 2021}} believe that the community at Qumran that most likely produced the Dead Sea Scrolls was an offshoot of the Essenes. However, this theory has been disputed by some; for example, [[Norman Golb]] argues that the primary research on the [[Qumran Caves|Qumran]] documents and ruins (by Father [[Roland de Vaux]], from the ''[[École Biblique|École Biblique et Archéologique de Jérusalem]]'') lacked scientific method, and drew wrong conclusions that comfortably entered the academic canon. For Golb, the number of documents is too extensive and includes many different writing styles and calligraphies; the ruins seem to have been a fortress, used as a military base for a very long period of time—including the 1st century—so they therefore could not have been inhabited by the Essenes; and the large graveyard excavated in 1870, just {{convert|50|m}} east of the Qumran ruins, was made of over 1200 tombs that included many women and children; Pliny clearly wrote that the Essenes who lived near the Dead Sea "had not one woman, had renounced all pleasure... and no one was born in their race". Golb's book presents observations about de Vaux's premature conclusions and their uncontroverted acceptance by the general academic community. He states that the documents probably stemmed from various libraries in Jerusalem, kept safe in the desert from the Roman invasions.<ref>{{Cite book|first=Norman |last= Golb |author-link=Norman Golb |title= Who wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls?: the search for the secret of Qumran |publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]] |location=New York City |year=1996 |isbn=0-684-80692-4 |oclc=35047608}}{{Page needed|date=August 2010}}</ref> Other scholars refute these arguments—particularly since Josephus describes some Essenes as allowing marriage.<ref>{{Cite book|last= Josephus|first= Flavius|title= Jewish War, Book II|location= Chapter 8, Paragraph 13}}</ref>

Another issue is the relationship between the ''Essaioi'' and Philo's ''[[Therapeutae]]'' and ''Therapeutrides''. He regarded the ''Therapeutae'' as a contemplative branch of the ''Essaioi'' who, he said, pursued an active life.<ref>[[Philo]]. ''[http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/yonge/book34.html De Vita Contemplativa]''. I.1.</ref>

One theory on the formation of the Essenes suggests that the movement was founded by a Jewish high priest, dubbed by the Essenes the [[Teacher of Righteousness]], whose office had been usurped by [[Jonathan Maccabaeus|Jonathan]] (of priestly but not of [[Zadok]]ite lineage), labeled the "man of lies" or "false priest".<ref name="time20090316">{{Cite magazine|last=McGirk|first=Tim|date=16 March 2009|title=Scholar Claims Dead Sea Scrolls 'Authors' Never Existed|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|url=http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1885421,00.html|url-status=dead|access-date=17 March 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090320020525/http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1885421,00.html|archive-date=20 March 2009}}</ref><ref name="elior-responds">{{cite web|date=15 March 2009|title=Rachel Elior Responds to Her Critics|url=http://jwest.wordpress.com/2009/03/15/rachel-elior-responds-to-her-critics/|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090321091436/http://jwest.wordpress.com/2009/03/15/rachel-elior-responds-to-her-critics/|archive-date=21 March 2009|access-date=17 March 2009|publisher=Jim West}}</ref>{{Unreliable source?|date=March 2009}} Others follow this line and a few argue that the Teacher of Righteousness was not only the leader of the Essenes at Qumran, but was also identical to the original Messianic figure about 150 years before the time of the [[Gospel]]s.<ref name=Ellegard/> Fred Gladstone Bratton notes that
{{blockquote|The Teacher of Righteousness of the Scrolls would seem to be a prototype of [[Jesus]], for both spoke of the [[New Covenant]]; they preached a similar gospel; each was regarded as a Savior or Redeemer; and each was condemned and put to death by reactionary factions... We do not know whether Jesus was an Essene, but some scholars feel that he was at least influenced by them.<ref>Bratton, Fred Gladstone. 1967. ''A History of the Bible''. Boston: Beacon Press, 79-80.</ref>}} [[Lawrence Schiffman]] has argued that the Qumran community may be called [[Sadducees|Sadducean]], and not Essene, since their legal positions retain a link with Sadducean tradition.<ref>James VanderKam and Peter Flint, ''The Meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls'', p. 251.</ref>