John, Qumran, and the Dead Sea Scrolls

The Dead Sea Scrolls reveal a Palestinian form of Second Temple Judaism in which the seeds of Johannine Christianity may have first sprouted. Although many texts from the Judean Desert are now widely available, the Scrolls have had little part in discussions of the Johannine literature over the past several decades. The essays in this book, ranging from focused studies of key passages in the Fourth Gospel to its broader social world, consider the past and potential impact of the Scrolls on Johannine studies in the context of a growing interest in the historical roots of the Johannine tradition and the origins and nature of the “Johannine community” and its relationship to mainstream Judaism. Future scholarship will be interested in connections between the Gospel of John and the Scrolls and also in Qumran Judaism and Johannine Christianity as parallel religious movements. The contributors are Mary L. Coloe and Tom Thatcher, Eileen Schuller, Paul N. Anderson, John Ashton, George J. Brooke, Brian J. Capper, Hannah K. Harrington, Loren T. Stuckenbruck, and James H. Charlesworth.

Mary L. Coloe is Associate Professor of Biblical Studies at Australian Catholic University, Melbourne. She is the author of God Dwells with Us: Temple Symbolism in the Fourth Gospel (Liturgical Press, 2001) and Dwelling in the Household of God: Johannine Ecclesiology and Spirituality (Liturgical Press, 2007) and the co-editor of Transcending Boundaries: Contemporary Readings of the New Testament (Libreria Ateneo Salesiano, 2005). Tom Thatcher is Professor of Biblical Studies at Cincinnati Christian University. He is the author and editor of numerous books and articles on Johannine literature and its historical context, including Why John Wrote a Gospel (Westminster John Knox, 2006), What We Have Heard from the Beginning: The Past, Present, and Future of Johannine Studies (Baylor University Press, 2007), and Greater Than Caesar: Christology and Empire in the Fourth Gospel (Fortress, 2009).