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

DONALD H. JUEL 73
issues are not only sociological but also theological: the God who raised
Jesus from the dead, according to the New Testament, is the God who
made promises to Israel. That God breaks promises and replaces one people
with another is hardly good news for a religious community that lives
in the hope that God will prove faithful to what has been promised.
As a Gentile Christian, I am in no position to dictate agendas for
Jewish brothers and sisters. For that matter, I am hardly in a position to
dictate agendas for anyone. It does strike me as important, however, that
both the Dead Sea Scrolls and the literature of the Palestinian Jesus
Movement be included as a chapter of Israel’s history, and that
“Christianity” and “Judaism” be abandoned as terms appropriate to the
first century of our common era. I can only begin to suggest what it
means to read the literature of the Palestinian Jesus Movement as Gentile
Christians in this changed environment. It must surely involve modesty,
a sense of amazement that there might be a place at Abraham’s table for
such strangers, and deep sadness at the cost others in Israel’s family have
been forced to pay, often at the hands of Christians. Paul will probably
prove most helpful in thinking the whole matter through, though even
Paul belonged within the family of Israel in a way few Christians can
understand.
Speaking as a Gentile Christian, the discovery of our strangeness and
distance from those religious ancestors with whom we have become
acquainted suggests a whole agenda for theology that will occupy us as it
thus far has not. It will require conversation with Jewish brothers and sisters
about a common heritage as well as differences. When the rootedness
of the Palestinian Jesus Movement in the tradition of Israel is taken seriously,
we may hope not only for a more interesting period in scholarship
but also for a more fruitful and productive engagement with one another,
with the Scriptures, and with God.
The Dead Sea Scrolls are important not because they are intrinsically more
interesting or more relevant than other literature. Nor are they important
because they hold the key to some dark secret that, brought to light, will
settle something. They are important because they offer a new perspective on
what we already possess. They suggest that our Scriptures and our religious
heritage are larger than we have imagined them to be; that they are about
darkness as well as light; and that they may be richer and more promising
than we could have known. To the degree that we are products of that
heritage, our future identities may likewise be richer and more promising
because of our engagement with the Dead Sea Scrolls.