Psychological Essentialism in Serek ha-Yaḥad and the Two Spirits Treatise
This paper investigates the psychological mechanisms that underpin Qumran sectarian dualism and its construction of in-group/out-group boundaries. Specifically, evidence from experimental and developmental psychology and cognitive anthropology is used to argue that Serek ha-Yaḥad and the Two Spirits...
| Autor principal: | |
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| Tipo de documento: | Electrónico Artículo |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés |
| Verificar disponibilidad: | HBZ Gateway |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Publicado: |
2018
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| En: |
Dead Sea discoveries
Año: 2018, Volumen: 25, Número: 1, Páginas: 39-56 |
| (Cadenas de) Palabra clave estándar: | B
Sektenregel (Qumrantexte)
/ 1QS III,13-IV,26
/ Identidad de grupo
/ Dualismo
/ Esencialismo
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| Clasificaciones IxTheo: | AD Sociología de la religión HD Judaísmo primitivo NBE Antropología |
| Otras palabras clave: | B
Qumran
Dead Sea Scrolls
Serek ha-Yaḥad
Two Spirits Treatise
sectarianism
essentialism
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| Acceso en línea: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Sumario: | This paper investigates the psychological mechanisms that underpin Qumran sectarian dualism and its construction of in-group/out-group boundaries. Specifically, evidence from experimental and developmental psychology and cognitive anthropology is used to argue that Serek ha-Yaḥad and the Two Spirits Treatise (1QS 3:13–4:26) reflect a deeply-engrained psychological essentialism wherein non-group members are conceptualized as having inherently different biological essences. This essentialist tendency is easily extended to the social domain in what scholars call the “naturalization” of social groups. After reviewing this literature, the paper examines the Serek and Treatise’s use of kinship terms, the word “spirit,” and language denoting human nature and living species, in order to demonstrate that essentialist intuitions about outsiders provide a foundation for the sect’s dualistic worldview. Importantly, the essentialist thinking in these texts is also firmly grounded in and channeled through the intertextual interpretation of scripture, drawing heavily on the rich creation vocabulary in Genesis 1–3. |
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| Descripción Física: | Online-Ressource |
| ISSN: | 1568-5179 |
| Obras secundarias: | Enthalten in: Dead Sea discoveries
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/15685179-12341450 |