The Fourth Evangelist and the Dead Sea Scrolls: Assessing Trends over Nearly Sixty Years

Charlesworth’s essay sets a program for future study by noting a number of points at which John and the scrolls speak from a similar, if not common, milieu. He rightfully insists that the scrolls must be given consideration in any attempt to re-create the historical Jesus or early Christianity. When read in light of the scrolls, the Fourth Gospel no longer need stand apart from the early traditions that gave shape to the Synoptics, nor does it look to a Hellenistic provenance. The scrolls reveal a Palestinian form of Second Temple Judaism in which the seeds of Johannine Christianity may have first sprouted.