The Emotional Re-Experiencing of the Hortatory Narratives Found in the Admonition of the Damascus Document

This article proposes that the emotional re-experiencing of the hortatory narratives found in the Admonition section of the Damascus Document (cols. 1–8; 19–20) may have been instrumental in preparing the community for an optimal reception of the laws that follow. The sectarian’s imaginative and egocentric re-enactment of the negatively valenced emotions in these vignettes could have made foundational events of covenant re-making accessible with the vividness of first-hand experiences. The generation of self-diminishment that arises from re-experiencing these negative emotions could have staged an experience of God’s immediacy, thereby replicating the conditions of divine encounter associated with the covenantal reception of laws.