Prayer and Identity in Varying Contexts: The Case of the Words of the Luminaries
This article examines the ways in which a single liturgical text, the Words of the Luminaries, would be read by two diachronically and ideologically different audiences: the implied audience of the pre-Qumranic author and the actual audience of the Yaḥad community at Qumran, which preserved this tex...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Brill
2015
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| In: |
Journal for the study of Judaism in the Persian, Hellenistic, and Roman period
Year: 2015, Volume: 46, Issue: 4/5, Pages: 484-511 |
| Further subjects: | B
Dead Sea Scrolls
Qumran
prayer
identity
Words of the Luminaries
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| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) |
| Summary: | This article examines the ways in which a single liturgical text, the Words of the Luminaries, would be read by two diachronically and ideologically different audiences: the implied audience of the pre-Qumranic author and the actual audience of the Yaḥad community at Qumran, which preserved this text. The text’s first person plural rhetorical stance invites the implied audience to identify with its “we, Israel” voice and with the fundamental beliefs, ideas, and values encoded in the “we” discourse. These major ideological themes conjoined with the pan-Israelite rhetorical stance convey messages about identity and ideology that are dissonant with the Yaḥad’s deterministic, dualistic ideology and sectarian identity as the elect “Congregation of God.” Nonetheless, the common past, foundational narratives, and shared values, especially regarding the Torah, would facilitate the Yaḥad’s reception of this originally non-Qumranic text and enable it to be read through the lens of the Yaḥad’s sectarian identity. |
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| ISSN: | 1570-0631 |
| Contains: | In: Journal for the study of Judaism in the Persian, Hellenistic, and Roman period
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/15700631-12340441 |