Abstract
After an introduction, the book contains twelve chapters, each of which is an essay that Frey has published, and often updated, over a period of about twenty-five years (he provides the details about the evolution of these previous publications in a short section called “Credits”). Eleven of the twelve chapters, a number of which were first written in German, appeared in his 2019 book Qumran, Early Judaism, and New Testament Interpretation. The final section entitled “Summary and Concluding Perspectives: The Scrolls and the New Testament after Seventy-Five Years—What Have We Learned?” was written specially for this volume, although it too is related to an earlier publication. The first three chapters deal with more general issues and pay extra attention to the Gospels and Jesus, while chapters 4–6 focus on Pauline subjects, chapter 7 treats the Johannine literature, chapter 8 turns to communal meals, chapter 9 discusses matters of scriptural authority and canon, and chapter 10 covers apocalyptic writings and views of history. As F. indicates, chapters 11 (the Essenes and ancient sources about them) and 12 (Qumran archaeology) do not deal with the New Testament. At times it is evident that essays are translations, but they are certainly serviceable renderings. I did notice a curious non-translation mistake where James Sanders is confused with Jack Sanders (279).
F., who is an expert both in Qumran studies and the New Testament, has devoted much time and care to the history of how people have related the scrolls to the New Testament, issues that arise in attempting to do so, and what the situation is (or should be) today. For comparisons of the scrolls with the Gospels and with Paul’s letters, he surveys the history of scholarship and deals with methodological problems. He frequently notes that earlier, often optimistic studies of relations between the Gospels and the scrolls, or Jesus and the Teacher of Righteousness, or between Paul’s letters and themes in the scrolls suffered from the fact that few of the texts from Qumran had then been published. Thus, the comparative basis was too narrow, and a somewhat distorted view of the scrolls and the community associated with them undergirded such early attempts. The conclusions reached have had to be moderated in light of the many additional texts that were published in the 1990s and early 2000s. In addition, the early comparative studies failed to distinguish between scroll texts that were group-specific (“sectarian”) and those that were not, stages of development evident in the scrolls, and changes in the early Jesus movement. The full publication of the scrolls and careful attention to distinctions among them have permitted more cautious and defensible conclusions about possible relations with the New Testament. F. emphasizes that no New Testament character, including John the Baptist, is mentioned in the scrolls and that the New Testament books never name the Essenes, a group to which the inhabitants of Qumran likely belonged. There is no evidence of any direct contact between New Testament characters and Qumran, nor is there reason for thinking that New Testament authors had read group-specific texts found at Qumran.
Throughout these thorough essays F. shows that, despite this absence of direct contact, the scrolls provide a vast amount of new information about Judaism at the time when Jesus and his first followers were active. For example, the diversity of messianic beliefs has become more fully apparent, the centrality of legal interests and debates is more thoroughly documented, and ideas once thought to be products of Hellenistic influences are now seen to be at home in early Jewish compositions. A prominent example is Paul’s use of the term “flesh” as a negative concept in the spirit-flesh contrast, a concept related not just to human frailty but to sinfulness. A similar understanding is now attested in wisdom texts from Qumran. Moreover, the process of canonizing books as scriptural can now be seen in more of its complexity because of indications about which works were considered authoritative in the scrolls and the diverse forms of some books preserved among them.
I wondered as I read through the essays who is the target audience for the volume. The essays are detailed, lengthy, and heavily supported by footnotes frequently packed with German titles. The collection presupposes a fair amount of knowledge about both the New Testament and about the scrolls. For readers with the requisite knowledge, the chapters offer outstanding studies of the subjects treated and furnish a highly informed perspective on how to view New Testament phenomena in light of the scrolls. Those lacking such knowledge will find the reading challenging.