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Summary: A Roadmap Through the Pesharim
Review: In years past scholars created academic chaos by arguing over the proper way to obtain historical information from the pesharim. For the first two decades of Qumran studies, scholars tended to mine the pesharim for their historical data without regard to the fact that they were biblical commentaries. This was followed by a backlash in which scholars warned against using the pesharim for historical information at all. In more recent years a middle course has been found, a roadmap through the pesharim. And this roadmap now has become the consensus of scholars.
Following are some of the conclusions of the consensus. The Righteous Teacher did not found the Qumran sect but became an influential leader. He lived during the second century BCE and died by 103 BCE. He did not write the pesharim himself, but taught "fulfillment hermenautics" to his disciples. Even so, some of his own writing may be found in the Thanksgiving Hymns. The Qumranites saw themselves as living in biblical history made sacred by earlier acts of God. They saw the Teacher as the one who would enact the final drama of salvation. However the Teacher was not known as a messiah. Charlesworth's monograph is informative and concise but fair. For example, Robert Eisenman's proposal that the Righteous Teacher is James the Just is listed along with over a dozen others. Each proposal is footnoted for the reader who wants to
know more. This book is excellent reading on a controversial subject.
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