================================================================== @@@@@ @@@@@ @@@@@ Bronowitz @ @ @ @ on @ @ @@@@@ @@@@@ Spring Ringgren @ @ @ @ 1995 @ @ @ @ @@@@@@ @@@@@@ @@@@@@ ================================================================== R E V I E W S ================================================================== Helmer Ringgren, The Faith of Qumran: Theology of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Translated by Emilie T. Sander. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1963. Pp. xiii+254. Reviewed by Lisa S. Bronowitz (March 1995) <0.1> Helmer Ringgren attempted to summarize the theological beliefs of the Qumran people using examples from the texts of the Manual of Discipline, the Thanksgiving Psalms, the War Scroll, the Habakkuk Commentary, the Cairo Damascus Document, and the commentary on Psalm 37 (found in Cave 4). <1.1> Ringgren divides his book into three parts. Part one he designates as DOCTRINE, which is clearly the emphasis of the work, and addresses, according to the chapter titles, God, Dualism (the existence of a good force and an evil force, or a good people and an evil people), Angels and Demons, Man, and Eschatology. Part two is entitled ORGANIZATION AND CULT, which generally deals with the structure of the Qumran community. The third part is titled PLACE WITHIN THE HISTORY OF RELIGION, which deals with background information contained in VanderKam's work, "The Dead Sea Scrolls Today." <1.2> The section on Doctrine deals with what the content of the scrolls indicates about the religious beliefs of the people of Qumran. The Thanksgiving Psalms in particular deal with God's greatness and majesty. In general, this section of the book deals with the use of the tetragrammaton as the name of God, the belief in God as the Creator and Sovereign Ruler, the cyclical attributes of nature which point towards a planned order of Creation, of a divine plan and predestination. There is also talk of the mysteries of God, which man as a whole is not supposed to see clearly. In addition, God is righteous in all that he does. The issue of Dualism deals with the Prince of Lights and the Angel of Darkness, each of whom has followers. God loves the Prince of Lights and his people and hates the Angel of Darkness and his followers, even though he created both of them. <1.3> The place of Man in all this, according to the Dead Sea Scrolls, is that of weakness and insignificance. In the Thanksgiving Psalms, "it is a feeling of complete unworthiness that dominates the psalmist's reaction before that which has befallen him from God," as Ringgren writes (p.97). Man's very flesh is connected to impurity and sin. However, the Thanksgiving Psalms also say that there is hope for man, but not necessarily that man has the power to bring about his own salvation. In fact, there seems to be two predestinations, one for righteousness and one for sin. One of the Thanksgiving Psalms also describes a way to salvation. This is characterized by knowledge and insight, forgiveness and purification, and "Fellowship with the Holy Ones," as Ringgren subtitles that portion of the chapter. Naturally, the Dead Sea Scrolls also had eschatological portions, since the Qumran people believed they were living in the last age. Ringgren discusses the difficulties connected with the Messianic idea, since the Qumran people seemed to expect two Messianic figures as opposed to the conventional one. <1.4> Part two of the book deals with the community and with the cult. The issues addressed in regard to the community are the general feeling of the Qumran people of representing Israel as a whole, the roles of the priests within the community (such as presiding over the common meal and blessing the food at that time before anyone can eat, the roles of the inspecter and of the instructor who are mentioned in the Manual of Discipline, what is required of a person seeking admission into the community, and the role of the member within the community, in reference to the community meetings. <1.5> The second part of this section deals with how the cult of the people of Qumran compares to the official cult of Judaism and how it itself was structured. Mentions of sacrifice are inconclusive as to either location or necessity. The founding of the sect seems to be connected to a break with the Jerusalem cult. There are three main characteristics of the Qumran cult noted despite incomplete data: first, the common meal; second, the study of the law (this was, after all, a religious community); and thirdly, common praise, meaning getting together to praise God. Ringgren writes that "the idea that times for prayer and religious festivals are fixed by the courses of the heavenly bodies and are thereby a part of God's world plan is central to the point of view in Qumran." (p. 224) <1.6> Part three of Ringgren's book discusses the place of the Qumran community within the history of religion. The traditional theory of the Qumran people being the Essenes is discussed at length, quoting Josephus and Philo. A chapter is then spent briefly decribing the relationship of the Essenes to Jewish movements, Christianity, and Gnosticism. <2.1> Ringgren's book seemed a fair evaluation of the text of the scrolls, but it is a little bit difficult to understand the specifics if you have not read the text yourself. In any case, the mission of the book was different from that of VanderKam's work. VanderKam's intent was to give a comprehensive summary of the whole Dead Sea Scrolls situation, while Ringgren was trying to delve specifically, at least in part one, into the theology lying within them. VanderKam summarized the basic content of the major works, taking each scroll in turn. Ringgren took it upon himself to integrate the scrolls and to compare what they said with each other, and present the information under general subject headings, to give a comprehensive view of the beliefs of the community without having to search out the instances yourself. The content on the possibility of the Qumran people being the Essenes is essentially identical in both books. The same ancient writers are quoted and the same tidbits of information, such as discrepancies with whether there was only one community, are produced for the reader's enjoyment. <2.2> Mention of the discovery of the scrolls is lacking from THE FAITH OF QUMRAN. Both VanderKan and FitzMyer go into the instance of the Bedouin shepherd searching after a lost goat and follow up with all the shenanigans associated with finding the caves before the Bedouins did so the archaeologists wouldn't have to pay big bucks to retrieve the scrolls. I suppose that this whole section is missing from Ringgren because it has absolutely no bearing on what the scrolls say. The identity of the Qumran people as the Essenes is important, because we have recorded for us the supposed points of view of the Essenes, and they do not conflict overly much with the content of the scrolls. <00.1> In conclusion, Helmer Ringgren wrote a very informative book on the theological content of the Dead Sea Scrolls. He was very effective at summarizing the viewpoints and at making connections between the various scrolls. A word of warning: this is not an ideal background book, partly because all the background is in parts two and three, and part one, where the scrolls are analyzed, would be difficult to understand with absolutely no background. Lisa Bronowitz (University of Pennsylvania undergraduate)