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Attitudes towards Sexuality in Qumran and Related Literature – and the New Testament

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 June 2008

WILLIAM R. G. LOADER
WILLIAM R. G. LOADER
Affiliation:
Murdoch University, Murdoch WA 6150, Australia
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Abstract

Investigation of attitudes towards sexuality in Qumran and related literature shows that the myth of the Watchers served as an aetiology of wrongdoing, but not of sexual wrongdoing in particular as one might have expected, nor as its paradigm. Intermarriage was a major concern, although conflicts over sexual wrongdoing which feature in early sectarian writings disappear in what appear to be later ones. Extensions to holy space and time produce greater restrictions on sexual relations, but without disparaging them in proper space and time. Eschatology which leaves no space for sex created challenges for defending its place in the interim.

Keywords

sexualityQumranDead Sea ScrollsWatcherscelibacysex
Type
Articles
Information
New Testament Studies , Volume 54 , Issue 3 , July 2008 , pp. 338 - 354
Copyright
© 2008 Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

Main paper read at the SNTS General Meeting at Sibiu, Romania, in 2007.