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

336 SOCIOLOGICAL AND LITURGICAL DIMENSIONS
The numerous attempts to write a sociology of Second Temple
Judaism or of the New Testament have often faltered by a simplistic
attempt to apply methods that were not designed to work with ancient
texts. It is clear that one cannot write a sociology of antiquity or of
Qumran, even though the Qumran texts and Qumran are a rich mine for
sociological exploration. All that should be attempted is a sociologically
sensitive description of some aspects of life at Qumran. G. Theissen
rightly points out that sociological analysis of ancient texts and societies
is a continuation and deepening of biblical historical criticism; 61 and N.
K. Gottwald correctly claims that “history without sociology is blind.” 62
Certainly, questions will always be paramount in any such endeavor.
Since Qumran was a group, or sect, then sociological methods and
insights should help us grasp some dimensions of the Qumran Scrolls
that would elude us by using only historiography. Thus, we might now
focus on Psalm Pesher 1 seeking to discern if and in what ways this commentary
on the Psalter might help us comprehend something about the
“where,” “why,” and “whom” of the Qumranites.
The issue of where concerns the location of the community and the ideology
that supports this location. What is this place located on the western
shore of the Dead Sea? And how can the community determine the
significance of this location, which, in turn, defines the body’s identity?
According to 1QS, as we noted earlier, Qumran is a place of preparation.
Here, the members gather together “to prepare the way of the Lord” by
preparing themselves through study, discipline, and prayer (8.15–17).
Moreover, on this Spartan patch of earth, the Qumranites, like the location
itself, are set apart from society. Isolation defines both site and occupant,
so that the question of “where” becomes a part of self-identity. Only
at Qumran—a site far removed from distraction and impediment—can the
community work together to prepare for the ever-imminent time of divine
intervention.
Psalm Pesher 1 assumes and revises the terms of this preparation. With
the passage of many years, from the composition of 1QS to the circulation
of Psalm Pesher 1, the community had come to understand preparation
as affliction. The psalmic pesher makes this evident in its scenic description
61. See esp. Gerd Theissen, “Zur forschungsgeschichtlichen Einordung,” in Studien
zür Soziologie des Urchristentums (WUNT 19; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1989). Sociology
plays a major role in Theissen’s essay, “The Political Dimension of Jesus’ Activities,”
in The Social Setting of Jesus and the Gospels (ed. W. Stegemann, B. J. Malina, and G.
Theissen; Minneapolis: Fortress, 2002).
62. Norman K. Gottwald, The Tribes of Yahweh (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press,
1999 [new edition]), 17.