Violence, Power, and Society in the Dead Sea Scrolls

'This original and insightful book advances the study of the Dead Sea Scrolls by drawing on the sociological study of new religious movements and differentiating the different stages of the development of sectarian consciousness. It sheds new light not only on the use of violent imagery in the Scrolls but also on the history and psychology of the movement. The modern analogies are fascinating.' John J. Collins, Holmes Professor Emeritus of Old Testament Criticism and Interpretation, Yale University
'Jassen presents the reader with an excellent, thorough study of the question of violence in the Dead Sea Scrolls. Utilizing a social-scientific approach, the book lays out the diverse ways that images of violence appear in the scrolls, and how the Dead Sea sectarians portray themselves both as victims and as perpetrators of violence. The comparison with the twentieth-century Branch Davidian sect and the Serbian nationalist movement is compelling and timely, given the violent rhetoric that permeates our political and cultural discourse today.' Sidnie White Crawford, Willa Cather Professor Emerita of Hebrew Bible and Second Temple Judaism, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
'Jassen offers a sophisticated and nuanced analysis of how discourses of violence in the Dead Sea Scrolls intersect with power, identity, and the community's experience and imagination of past, present, and end-time violence. The volume's clear scholarly prose makes this important work accessible also to a broader audience and classrooms in higher education.' Charlotte Hempel, Professor of Hebrew Bible and Second Temple Judaism, University of Birmingham; Honorary Research Fellow, University of Pretoria
'In this incisive study, Alex P. Jassen guides readers through the complex and often contradictory portrayals of violence in the Dead Sea Scrolls. By combining close textual analysis with insights from social scientific research – including the study of New Religious Movements – he elucidates how the sectarian imagination of violence evolved in response to shifting social contexts. Jassen shows how arhetoric of violence served as a means of coping with disempowerment and perceived persecution, providing a literary space to imagine the reversal of a world gone wrong. This nuanced approach enriches our understanding of the texts and the people who produced them.' Cecilia Wassen, Professor of New Testament, Uppsala University