Attitudes Towards Sexuality in Qumran and Related Literature – and the New Testament

Investigation of attitudes towards sexuality in Qumran and related literature shows that the myth of the Watchers served as an aetiology of wrongdoing, but not of sexual wrongdoing in particular as one might have expected, nor as its paradigm. Intermarriage was a major concern, although conflicts over sexual wrongdoing which feature in early sectarian writings disappear in what appear to be later ones. Extensions to holy space and time produce greater restrictions on sexual relations, but without disparaging them in proper space and time. Eschatology which leaves no space for sex created challenges for defending its place in the interim.