From Qumran to the Yaḥad: A New Paradigm of Textual Development for the Community Rule

Since the discovery of the Cave 4 versions of The Community Rule (Serekh ha-Yaa, ad or S), scholars have been perplexed about its complex textual history. This important charter material for the Dead Sea Scrollsa (TM) authors appears in alternate versionsa "ones with contradictory legal prescriptions and opposing self-referencesa "but exhibits no clear order of chronological development. Benefitting from the entire Qumran library now available to us, this book offers a new, broader model for reading S that better accounts for the long and diverse history behind the text. The resulting paradigm challenges the Qumrancentric lens through which many read the a oesectarian textsa and offers a fresh way of thinking about sectarian community formation among the authors of the Scrolls.