The gēr in the Damascus Document: A Rejoinder

This article responds to the recent proposal that the גר in the Damascus Document is a legal-rhetorical fiction. After summarising the argument for the fictitious גר , the article identifies three underlying assumptions and evaluates them in the light of wider and more recent discussions in Qumranology. It is argued that the 'synchronic' reading of the sectarian texts are problematic and that it falls prey to over-harmonisation of evidence. It would be better to interpret the diverging attitudes towards the גר in the Dead Sea Scrolls as emanating from different communities or time periods, especially in the light of the recent move towards positing multiple communities behind the Scrolls.