School of Historical and Philosophical Studies - Theses
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Item‘Building’ and ‘temple’ imagery in the Qumran texts( 1971)The Qumran texts contain a series of passages which refer to the community in various ways as a 'building. A number of these passages would appear to specify this 'building' imagery so as to describe the community as a 'holy building' or as a 'sanctuary'. In frequent association with these 'building' imagery passages there appears the idea of the community as a 'foundation' for the 'true Israel' and as a body making atonement 'for the Land'. In the first part of this work Gartner made a systematic comparative study of the chief passages in the Qumran texts in which the ‘house’ and ‘temple’ imagery was to be found. In the second part he reviewed the relevant New Testament material, adding further loco from the Qumran texts where apposite. In the course of his investigation Gartner revealed striking parallels in ‘community-temple’ imagery between Qumran and the Pauline and non-Pauline letters of the New Testament. In a final section he studied the relationship between the ‘community-temple’ idea and Christology, drawing the conclusion that it is in this area that the major difference between the Qumran ideology and that of the New Testament emerges. The Qumran documents use the ‘temple’ imagery entirely in a collective sense: that is, the members of the community constitute the ‘temple’. In the Gospels Jesus himself is presented as a personal replacement of the Temple as a means of access to God. He is the New Temple. The New Testament Letters do feature the collective image. But the position of the person of Jesus is central. It is in this focus on a single salvation figure that the New Testament concept of the community as ‘temple’ has its major point of distinction from that of Qumran. (From Introduction)