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

MAGEN BROSHI 245
Indeed, as we have mentioned in the introduction, this subject had been
dealt with ably already almost half a century ago. It was discussed in very
good monographs: by Eugene Merrill and recently by two young
German scholars, Günter Röhser and Armin Lange. 43 On the other hand,
it is often glossed over or totally ignored. In Kuhn’s study on the impact
of the Qumran scrolls on the understanding of Paul, 44 predestination is
not even mentioned. This is also the case of Stuhlmacher. 45 In the six volumes
of the Anchor Bible Dictionary, one of the finest publications of its
kind, there is neither an entry for free will, nor one for predestination. 46
There is even a study which denies the existence of any predestinarian
ideas in Paul. 47 The same Caird who authored one of the most perceptive
essays on the subject 48 has nothing to say in his posthumously published
book. 49 Or is this the responsibility of his editor?
Our second objective is to underline what seems to us to be the most
important contribution of the Essenes to Christian theology—the doctrine
of predestination. They, or rather their immediate predecessors, the sapiential
proto-Essene school, were the first to crystallize and preach the doctrine
of predestination. Predestination is by definition monotheistic. 50
Members of “normative” Judaism (i.e., the Pharisaic, Rabbinical mainstream)
were predominantly adherents of free will 51 and the Sadducees
rejected predestination. Predestination was the cornerstone of the Essene
theology, and the primitive church, especially Paul, were exposed to the
teachings of the Essenes. The exposure of Jesus and the early Christians
to Essene influence is beyond dispute; the difference between scholars is
the weight they ascribe to it. Be it as it may, there is no denying that
43. Eugene H. Merrill, Qumran and Predestination: A Theological Study of the Thanksgiving
Scroll (Leiden: Brill, 1975); Röhser, Praedestination und Verstockun; Armin Lange,
“Wisdom and Predestination in the Dead Sea Scrolls,” DSD 2 (1995): 340–54; and
idem, Weisheit und Prädestination: Weisheitliche Urordnung und Prädestination in den Textfunden
von Qumran (Leiden: Brill, 1995).
44. Kuhn, “Impact of the Qumran Scrolls.”
45. Peter Stuhlmacher, Paul’s Letter to the Romans: A Commentary (Louisville: Westminster
John Knox, 1994).
46. However, the entry “Election” partly covers the subject. The same dictionary
has, for a reason unknown to me, a lengthy entry wasm, the Arabic term for the
branding of cattle and camels.
47. Alfred Marx, “Y a-t-il une prédestination à Qumran?” RevQ 6 (1967): 163–81.
48. Caird, “Predestination: Romans IX–XI.”
49. George B. Caird, New Testament Theology (ed. L. D. Hurst; Oxford: Clarendon,
1994).
50. Without entering into a lengthy terminological discourse we would like to point
out that predestination is the monotheistic system of predeterminism.
51. Ephraim E. Urbach, The Sages, their Concepts and Beliefs (Cambridge, MA:
Harvard University Press, 1987), 255–85.