Law and Society in the Dead Sea Scrolls

"The study of the legal texts found among the Dead Sea Scrolls benefits from a theoretical framework that is informed by contemporary legal scholarship. This dissertation undertakes a shift from the comparative approach, which focuses on parallels from either early Christian or early rabbinic sources, through exploration of four theoretical concepts: legal essentialism, intentionality, exclusion, and obligation. Legal essentialism is a new term proposed in chapter 1 as a substitute for previous terminology of “realism” (in contrast to “nominalism,” called “legal formalism” in this study). This essentialism is then demonstrated in four aspects: time, space, hierarchy, and knowledge.
Chapter 2 examines the role of intention in the law as an important prism to understand the tensions created by and solutions found for the sectarians’ legal essentialism. Using the work of Anscombe and Audi, the dissertation defines the concept of intention and separates it from desire and action. A special section examines the idiom “high hand” and distinguishes its biblical usage (primarily in Num 15), and its usage in the sectarian writings, primarily in 1QS.
The concept of exclusion is the focus of chapter 3, primarily through 4QMMT, and with many comparisons to 1QS. Through the work of legal scholars Dan-Cohen and Minow the role of exclusion in constituting the community and reflecting their legal essentialist stance is clarified. The role of emotions and rhetoric of emotions in exclusion is also explored in relation to contemporary theories of law and emotion. Finally, the dissertation distinguishes between permanent-static exclusions based on deformities and temporary-dynamic exclusions based on moral conduct. This distinction demonstrates the previously discussed roles of legal essentialism and intention in the law.
Chapter 4 examines obligation and commitment, borrowing the terms “transcendence” and “renunciation” from Rosabeth Moss Kanter. The tension between obligation to God and obligation to community is described using Kierkegaard, suggesting that this tension is mediated through interpretative authority in the sect.
The final chapter examines the laws of premarital sex in the Pentateuch and in 4Q159, 4QD and 11Q19 to examine the previous issues in a specific case study of legal interpretation and innovation, highlighting different motivations between a sectarian text (4QD) and a non-sectarian text (the Temple Scroll).
The conclusion highlights the benefits of applying contemporary theory in general and legal theory in particular to the study of ancient texts, and especially to the study of the Dead Sea Scrolls."