The Qumran Rule Texts in Context.
Harkins, Angela Kim
The Qumran Rule Texts in Context. By Charlotte Hempel. Texts and
Studies in Ancient Judaism 154. Tubingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2013. Pp. vii +
396. $ 157.
This handsomely presented collection brings together essays by one
of today's leading Dead Sea Scrolls scholars. Most of the chapters
were originally published from 1996 to 2012. The volume opens with a
previously unpublished essay that stands as an introduction to the
collection and offers a summary of significant changes that have taken
place in recent Qumran scholarship concerning the Teacher of
Righteousness and the understanding of the communities of the Scrolls.
Hempel's collection covers topics related to the structure and
organization of the communities of the Dead Sea Scrolls and how these
groups may have emerged. The focus is on two different types of
constitutional documents, the Community Rule and the Damascus Document.
Both texts have complex literary traditions and histories of editing,
which H. lucidly presents based on extant manuscript evidence. H.'s
technical expertise is well illustrated by the essays in the first half
of the volume, which present the most up-to-date positions on these two
important texts from Qumran.
In addition to the wealth of material found here concerning the
Qumran texts and communities, H. extends the scope judiciously to
relevant Second Temple biblical books: the Book of Daniel (231-52) and
Ezra-Nehemiah (253-70). It is here in Part VII (chaps. 15 to 18) that
H.'s discussion will prove especially useful to readers. Her
discussion of what these Qumran texts can tell us about the emerging
Scriptures is first rate and pertinent for any reader who may be
interested in the complex development of literary texts and theological
traditions in living communities of faith (271-99).
This collection will prove invaluable for Scrolls scholars and
serious researchers in the Second Temple period and biblical studies
generally.
Angela Kim Harkins
Fairfield University, CT
DOI: 10.1177/0040563914538732
