The Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls: The ... - josephprestonkirk

306 THE DIFFERING APPROACH TO A THEOLOGICAL HERITAGE
Even if the contrast to such a view on the community does not
become as apparent as in, for example, Matt 5:43–48 paralleled by Luke
6:27–38; 10:25–37, 54 the stark contrast between the version of the commandment
to love in the Johannine writings and in genuinely Qumran
documents becomes visible. 55 Even the warning against a false love for
the world (1 John 2:15–17) does not imply any separation from outsiders
or a categorical disregard for the material world. Rather, the Johannine
commandment to love is embedded in a theological overall view that
aims at universal salvation. We explain this on the basis of the third
theme that scholars have frequently seen as indicating an immediate tradition-historical
link between the Qumran and the Johannine theology:
the light metaphors.
The antithesis of light and darkness is a central metaphorical paradigm
of the Johannine writings. 56 Some of these motifs correspond
the most marked features of the dualistic traits of the Qumran texts consists in the
fact that they serve as the basis of a strict ethical separation of the community. On the
range of the presentations of the commandment to love in the specifically Qumran,
Essene, and pre-Essene texts, see furthermore 1QH 4.21; 6.10–11, 25–27; 8.18–19;
1QS 3.26–4.1; 4Q258 frag. 2 3.1.; 4Q258 frag. 2 3.6; (4Q266 16–17); CD 6.20–21;
9.2, 7–8; etc.). Generally, on the antithesis between love and hatred in the texts of the
Qumran library, see Thomas Söding, “Feindeshass und Bruderliebe: Beobachtungen
zur essenischen Ethik,” RevQ 16 (1995): 601–19, 611–12; Lichtenberger, Studien zum
Menschenbild, 201, 213, 217–18; Heinz-Josef Fabry, “‘Liebe’ in den Handschriften von
Qumran,” in Liebe, Macht und Religion: Interdisziplinäre Studien zu Grunddimensionen menschlicher
Existenz; Gedenkschrift für Helmut Merklein (ed. M. Gielen and J. Kügler;
Stuttgart: Katholisches Bibelwerk, 2003), 43–61, 51–52
54. However, it remains unclear whether Matt 5:43–48; Luke 6:27–38; and
10:25–37 polemicize against genuinely Qumran concepts (corresponding contrasts
between hatred and love can be found in the Qumran library in Qumran as well as
in Essene and pre-Essene texts). A direct polemic against the Qumran idea of community
is assumed, e.g., by Ethelbert Stauffer, Die Botschaft Jesu: Damals und heute
(Dalp-Taschenbücher 333; Bern: Francke, 1959), 128–29; Herbert Braun, Qumran und
das Neue Testament (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1966), 1:17–18; more sceptical, however,
Dieter Lührmann, “Liebet eure Feinde (Lk 6,27–36/Mt 5,39–48),” ZTK 69 (1972):
412–38, esp. 426; Ulrich Luz, Das Evangelium nach Matthäus (2d ed.; EKKNT 1.1;
Zurich: Benzinger, 2002), 407–8. Conciliatorily, Söding, “Feindeshass und
Bruderliebe, 601–19, esp. 619, concludes that among all the early Jewish texts, the
said points of comparison with Qumran offer the most material.
55. Against, e.g., Howard M. Teeple, “Qumran and the Fourth Gospel,” in The
Composition of John’s Gospel, Selected Studies from Novum Testamentum (compiled by David
E. Orton; Brill’s Readers in Biblical Studies 2; Leiden: Brill, 1999), 1–20, 12–13,
Käsemann, Jesu letzter Wille nach Johannes 17, 139. Similarly Stauffer, Die Botschaft Jesu,
47, claims that late effects of the Qumran community’s self-view as presented in 1QS
were responsible for the Johannine school driving out the spirit of Jesus of Nazareth
(to love those of other groups).
56. Thus, 29 of the 73 occurrences of fw~v in the New Testament can be found in
the Johannine writings. While the two short letters do not offer any light metaphors,