6 Theories on the Origin of the Dead Sea Scrolls

For nearly 60 years, biblical historians have generally accepted a theory that the Dead Sea Scrolls, a collection of 972 documents found in Judean caves in 1947, were compiled by a separatist sect of Jews known as the Essenes. Over the past decade, however, contemporary archaeologists and biblical scholars have begun to offer alternative theories on the origin of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Qumran-Essene Theory on the Origin of the Dead Sea Scrolls

Until the 1990s, most scholars held to a hypothesis now called the Qumran-Essene theory. This view was proposed by a French Dominican priest-archaeologist, Father Roland de Vaux, who first unearthed the Qumran ruins in 1951, and his colleague J. T. Milik, although scholars had connected the Essenes with other scrolls from other sites before this. The Qumran-Essene theory contends that the Essenes lived at Qumran and composed the scrolls between A.D. 66 and 68, at the height of the first Jewish revolt against Rome.

Much of the support for this theory is based on the writings of Jewish historian Flavius Josephus and a Roman naturalist, Pliny the Elder, who wrote about an Essene community at Ein Gedi after the fall of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. Josephus in particular wrote about the Essenes holding an initiation ceremony for new members and sharing property in common, practices both described in the scroll dubbed the "Community Rule." However, this theory begins to fall apart based on some of the earliest scrolls including the Great Isaiah Scroll, which has been carbon-dated to 250 B.C.

Qumran-Sectarian Theory on the Origin of the Dead Sea Scrolls

The Qumran-Sectarian theory branches off from the Qumran-Essene theory, mainly in its reluctance to link the scrolls solely with the Essenes. This theory proposes that the scrolls were compiled by Jews living in or near Qumran, but not exclusively or necessarily the Essenes.
Qumran-Sadducean Theory on the Origin of the Dead Sea Scrolls

Dr. Lawrence H. Schiffman, Ethel and Irvin A. Edelman Professor of Hebrew and Judaic Studies at New York University has proposed another alternative called the Qumran-Sadducean Theory. Dr. Schiffman argues that the Qumran community was led by a group of Zadokite (Sadducee) priests. The Sadducees were a Jewish sect mentioned in the New Testament who were concerned with strict observance of religious laws. Dr. Schiffman's theory is based on several scrolls that cite Sadducee principles for dating religious calendars and purity laws identical to those in other Sadducee documents.
Christian Theory on the Origin of the Dead Sea Scrolls

This theory has been proposed independently by a Spanish Jesuit, Father Josep O'Callaghan-Martínez and biblical scholar Robert Eisenman of California State University at Long Beach, CA. Fr. O'Callaghan-Martínez contends that a fragment of scroll 7Q5 contains a portion of the Gospel of Mark, while Dr. Eisenman theorizes that some of the scrolls are actually descriptions of early Christian communities in which new believers were baptized into the fellowship and all disciples held their goods in common. Most scholars who study the period reject these arguments.

Jerusalem Theory on the Origin of the Dead Sea Scrolls

Recently some scholars have argued that the Dead Sea Scrolls, also known as the Qumran Library, came from Jews fleeing Jerusalem at the time of the Roman conquest in 70 A.D. Norman Golb contends the scrolls came from the libraries of several Jewish scholars in Jerusalem, while Karl Heinrich Rengstorf has argued they represent the remains of the library at the Jerusalem Temple.

Still other scholars say that the diverse religious thought and the different scripts of the scrolls indicate they came from multiple sources, a variant of Golb's theory. Supporters of the multiple-origin theory think that the Qumran ruins are the remains of a fort from the Hasmonean period of Jewish history, a view consistent with the dating of some artifacts at the site. However, the dating consistencies do not necessarily confirm this theory.
The 'No Essenes' Theory on the Origin of the Dead Sea Scrolls

In 2009, Israeli scholar Rachel Elior, a professor of Jewish mysticism at Jerusalem's Hebrew University, put forth a theory reported in Time magazine that the Essenes never existed at all. Instead, Dr. Eilor claims that Josephus made them up. She said she bases her theory on the fact that in all 900-plus scrolls found in the caves near Qumran, there is no mention of the word "Essene" or "Essenes." Like Dr. Schiffman, Dr. Elior said she thinks that Josephus' "Essenes" were really Zadokites banished from Jerusalem by Seleucid rulers in the 2nd century B.C. Members of this exiled priestly caste took their writings with them when they left, she argues.

Dr. James H. Charlesworth, who directs Princeton Theological Seminary's Dead Sea Scrolls Project, responded in the magazine article to Dr. Elior's theory. Dr. Charlesworth noted that "Essenes" is the name that Roman historians such as Josephus, Pliny and Philo gave to the spartan Jewish communities they encountered. In the Dead Sea Scrolls themselves, the writers refer to themselves as "sons of light" or "men of holiness," Dr. Charlesworth said. He argues that the large number of inkpots discovered at Qumran by archaeologists supports theories tying the Essenes to the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Until and unless more conclusive evidence is found, the origin of the Dead Sea Scrolls may remain a tantalizing mystery of biblical history.

Sources:

Shanks, Hershel, The Mystery and Meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls (Vintage Press 1999).
Golb, Norman, Who Wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls? The Search for the Secret of Qumran, (New York: Scribner, 1995).
Golb, Norman, On the Jerusalem Origin of the Dead Sea Scrolls (University of Chicago Oriental Institute, June 5, 2009).
"Scholar Claims Dead Sea Scrolls 'Authors' Never Existed" by Tim McGirk, Time Magazine, March 16, 2009 http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1885421,00.html#ixzz1ACmDuTeK