Knowledge and Deeds in the Two Spirits Treatise

Abstract

This study explores how knowledge in the Two Spirits Treatise (1QS 3.13–4.26) is presented as a practical knowledge primarily valuable insofar as it generates good deeds. The prominence of deeds makes knowledge itself a relatively minor character in the Treatise, as is particularly evident in the role that deeds play in demonstrating a person's spiritual character. This study will engage with sustained treatments of epistemology in the Treatise by Carol Newsom and Shane Berg on the way to assessing the assumptions of the Treatise from a different angle. Such a perspective reveals a curious, dialogical relationship between theology and anthropology that may be underlying this text.