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The results, however, remained controversial. Some scholars from a
rather conservative viewpoint emphasized the relations between the
New Testament and Qumran in order to strengthen the deep rootedness
of early Christianity within the traditions of Palestinian Judaism. 32 Other
authors remained skeptical and continued to see the predominant background
of, for example, Pauline and Johannine thought in Hellenistic
Judaism, paganism, or even Gnosticism. Significantly, the doyens of New
Testament interpretation in German and British scholarship, Rudolf
Bultmann and Charles H. Dodd, did not alter their general views on the
religio-historical background of the New Testament. In the context of the
Bultmann school, the detailed report on the scholarly discussion by
Herbert Braun in the Theologische Rundschau 33 and his comprehensive
two-volume study Qumran und das Neue Testament 34 presented a rather
reserved position.
In retrospect, we can see that many of the crucial issues concerning the
relations between the Qumran texts and the New Testament could not be
answered sufficiently in that period. The discussion was still limited to
the texts from Cave 1 and included only a small portion of other
Qumran documents. So, scholars could not adequately see that the character
and the diversity of the Qumran library could not be seen adequately
at that time. Furthermore, most of the scholars viewed the
Qumran community as a marginal “sect” in separation from the predominant
traditions of contemporary Judaism. On the basis of this view,
it was hard to interpret the linguistic and traditio-historical parallels with
New Testament texts. The result of the discussion was, then, an impressive
collection of more or less convincing parallels. But the historical links
in New Testament Exegesis (Chicago: Priory, 1968); Matthew Black, ed., The Scrolls and
Christianity (London: SPCK, 1969); James H. Charlesworth, ed., John and Qumran
(London: Chapman, 1972).
32. Cf., e.g., the works on the Fourth Gospel by William F. Albright, “Recent
Discoveries in Palestine and the Gospel of St. John,” in The Background of the New
Testament and Its Eschatology (ed. W. D. Davies and D. Daube; Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1954), 153–71; and F.-M. Braun, “L’arrière-fond Judaïque.”
33. Herbert Braun, “Qumran und das Neue Testament: Ein Bericht über 10 Jahre
Forschung (1950–1959),” TRu 28 (1962): 97–234; 29 (1963): 142–76, 189–260; 30
(1964): 1–38, 89–137.
34. Herbert Braun, Qumran und das Neue Testament (2 vols.; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck,
1966); vol. 1 reprints the articles mentioned in n33 (above); vol. 2 presents discussion
on several important topics. The study has been most influential since it has the form
of a catena, presenting the scholarly views within a convenient arrangement according
to the sequence of the New Testament texts. Cf. also two chapters in his Gesammelte
Studien zum Neuen Testament und seiner Umwelt (Tübingen: J. C. B. Mohr, 1962): “Die
Bedeutung der Qumranfunde für das Verständnis Jesu von Nazareth,” 86–99; and
“Römer 7,7–25 und das Selbstverständnis des Qumran-Frommen,” 100–19.