Browsing by Author "Harris, Rebecca"

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    Living in the Liminal: the Present as a Place of Access in Qumran Sectarian Literature
    (2019-04-18) Harris, Rebecca; Henze, Matthias
    Before the emergence of early Christian notions of liminality or partially realized eschatology, the authors behind the Qumran sectarian literature understood the present as a liminal time-space in which participation with the divine was already possible for certain individuals. Behind this belief lay a calculated approach to the organization of time and space that located the existence of the group on the brink of a transition to the new age. In this study, I argue that the Qumran movement’s constructions of time and space establish the context for its members’ present participation with the divine with the goal that this participation would ultimately lead to permanent incorporation into the eternal realm at the end of the age. Through a robust program of ritual-liturgical activities, the present time and space of the sect became a place of regular communion with the divine, and its rituals a catalyst for the individual’s future incorporation into the ranks of divine beings. Drawing on insights gleaned from temporal and spatial theories, I first demonstrate how the sectarian authors construct the time and place of the movement as a social space in which earthly and heavenly spheres overlap, making human-divine communion possible for the properly aligned individual. Living in the last days provided the temporal alignment and membership in the group the spatial alignment necessary for present communion with the divine through the ritual-liturgical activities of the sect. Additionally, membership imbued the individual with an eternal quality, making him fit to participate with divine beings in the worship of the sect and paving the way for his permanent incorporation into their realm. Finally, considering the significant liturgical texts of the group through the lens of performance theory, I argue that performance of the liturgy functioned not only as a means of achieving present communion with the divine, but ultimately aimed to secure the individual’s place in the eternal realm at the end of the age and even sought hasten its arrival.