19.3.2001
 
 

Matthew and the Qumran Community -- Two Jewish sects?

G. N. Stanton: Matthew's Gospel and the Damascus Document in Sociological Perspective. (A Gospel for a New People, pp.85-107).

- Takes García Martínez's hypothesis about the origin of the Qumran community as his starting point. According to G. M. there was a split within the party of Essenes which resulted in the formation of the Qumran community. Another explanation (majority view): The writings of the Qumran community are directed against the Temple authorities in Jerusalem (starting in 150s BCE)

-Stanton compares Matthew and CD finding following similarities:
-Polemics against the leaders of the parent body. This helps the sectarians to distance themselves from the parent body
-Social conflict theory by Lewis Coser: The closer the relationship, the more intense the conflict.
-Condemnation of the erring members (cf. Matt 7:19, 23; 13:36-43; 24:51)
-In the beginning the sectarian communities tend to be egalitarian which gradually gives way to developing structures
-Legitimation is typical of new religious communities: The group claims that it is not innovatory. It is the parent body that has gone astray.

If Stanton is on the right track a question still remains: What explains the differences between the Qumran community and Matthew?
 
 

Matthew's community -- a cult movement?
 

R. Stark and W. S. Bainbridge: A Theory of Religion.

Stark and Bainbridge make a distinction between religious institutions (churches) and religious movements. In contrast to religious institutions, which accept the social environment in which they exist and adapt to its changes, religious movements "wish to cause or prevent change in a system of supernaturally-based general compensators" (i.e. in religion). Institutions and movements are the two opposite poles of one axis that permits different degrees of institutionalization.

Stark and Bainbridge postulate two basic avenues by which new religious movements emerge. Sects come into existence through schisms with existing religious organizations. Cults, for their part, come into existence when invented new religious ideas gain social acceptance. Consequently, Stark and Bainbridge define sect movements as deviant religious organizations holding traditional beliefs and practices, contrasting these to cult movements, which are deviant religious organizations with novel beliefs and practices.