The Social Role of Liturgy in the Religion of the Qumran Community

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The Astrolabe

An ancient instrument for solving problems of location and distance, as well as time

Astrolábon órganon is the word used in Ptolemaeus Syntaxis 5.1 to describe a form of armillary sphere consisting of both fixed and rotating rings for determining the ecliptic co-ordinates of stars. Also called astrolabe were two-dimensional representations of the celestial sphere: over fixed disks with a representation of the horizon of the earth (in each case for a specific geographic latitude) and its parallels up to the zenith lies a rotating representation of the heavens (called ‘spider’ or ‘net’) with zodiac and indicators for some of the brightest stars. On the back is an indicator (‘alidade’) with visor plates for calculating the height of the stars. The astrolabe allows its user to determine the hours of day and night, the positions of stars, and the height and depth of objects on earth (mountains, buildings, wells). The oldest extant descriptions of the flat, planispheric astrolabe come from Iohannes Philoponus, 6th century AD, and (in Syrian) from Severus Sebokht, c. 660 AD. Indirect references may date back as early as Theon (4th cent.). Between the 8th and the 9th centuries the Arabs appropriated the knowledge of the astrolabe. At the end of the 10th century and again in the 12th century, they passed it on to Western Europe, where astrolabes were constructed up until the 17th cent. Today, one Byzantine astrolabe (from 1062) is extant, as are some 750 Arabic-Islamic astrolabes and approximately the same number of European astrolabes.

This information is abstracted from Brill's New Pauly, the English edition of the authoritative Der Neue Pauly, Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World. The encyclopaedic coverage and high academic standard of the work, the interdisciplinary and contemporary approach and clear and accessible presentation have made the New Pauly the unrivalled modern reference work for the ancient world. For more information see www.brillsnewpauly.com or visit our website catalog: www.brill.nl/bnp
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The Social Role of Liturgy in the Religion of the Qumran Community

Russell C.D. Arnold

Books

Available
Publication year: 2006


Series:	Studies on the Texts of the Desert of Judah, 60
ISBN-13 (i)The ISBN (International Standard Book Number) has been changed from 10 to 13 digits on 1 January 2007:	978 90 04 15030 0
ISBN-10:	90 04 15030 7

Cover:	Cloth with dustjacket
Number of pages:	x, 270 pp.

List price:	€ 104.00 / US$ 154.00

Table of contents

CONTENTS
Preface
Introduction
1. The Levels of Meanings of Liturgy
2. Provenance of Qumran Liturgical Texts
2.1. Orthography and Language
2.2. Terminology
2.3. Formal Characteristics
2.4. Rhetorical Polemic
2.5. Problems in Determining Provenance of Liturgy and Prayer
3. Liturgical Use of a Text
4. Plan for this Study
Chapter One Community Structure
1. Group Identity
1.1. Self-designations
1.2. Women
1.3. Corporate Identity and Hierarchy
2. Grid of Ideological Structures
2.1. Righteousness and Holiness
2.2. Calendar
2.3. Proper Speech
3. Summary
Chapter Two Rites of Passage
1. Initiation and Covenant Renewal Ceremony
1.1. Preparation
1.2. Entrance of New Initiates (1QS 1:16-2:1)
1.3. Blessings and Curses (1QS 2:1-18)
1.4. Entrance into the Serekh
1.5. Purification and Instruction (1QS 2:25-4:26)
1.6. Rebuke and Dismissal
2. Summary
Chapter Three Feasts and Fasts
1. Archaeological Evidence for Communal Meals at Qumran
1.1. Dining Rooms
1.2. Animal Remains
2. Texts About Meals
2.1. 1QS 6:1-8
2.2. 1QSa 2:17-22
2.3. Tohorat HaRabim
2.4. Was there Grace after Meals?
3. Liturgical Context
4. Significance of the Meal
5. Summary
6. Excursus: The Role of Fasting at Qumran
Chapter Four Calendrical Rites
1. Calendar Texts
2. Evidence for Calendrical Rituals
3. Artifacts Relevant to Calendrical Rites
3.1. Sundial
3.2. Tefillin
4. Liturgical Texts Connected to Daily Rites
4.1. Daily Prayers (4Q503)
4.2. Words of the Luminaries (5Q504, 4Q506)
4.3. 4Q408-Liturgy on Morning and Evening Prayer
4.4. Summary of Daily Rites
5. Liturgical Texts Connected to Sabbath Rites
5.1. Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice (4Q400-407; 11Q17; Mas1K)
6. Liturgical Texts Connected to Festival Rites
6.1. Festival Prayers (4Q507, 4Q508, 4Q509 + 4Q505)
6.2. Times for Praising God (4Q409)
7. Monthly Rites
8. Summary
Chapter Five Rites of Affliction
1. Curses
1.1. 1QS 2:4-18
1.2. 4QBera (4Q286) frg. 7
1.3. Curses (4Q280) frg. 2
1.4. Significance of Curses
2. Apotropaic Prayers and Incantations
2.1. Apotropaic Prayers
2.2. Incantations
3. Purification Rites
3.1. Tohorot (4Q274-278; 4Q514)
3.2. Ritual of Purification (4Q512, 4Q414)
3.3. Purification Liturgy (4Q284)
4. Summary
Chapter Six Political Rites
1. Ranking the Members
2. Discipline
3. Authority of the Priesthood
3.1. Liturgy of the Tongues of Fire (4Q375, 4Q376, 1Q29)
3.2. The War Scroll (1QM, 4Q491-496)
3.3. Benedictions (1QSb)
4. Summary
Chapter Seven Rites of Communion
1. Hodayot
1.1. Liturgical Context
1.2. The Hodayot as Rites of Communion
2. Psalms
2.1. Communion Elements in 11QPsa
3. 4Q380-4Q381
4. Barkhi Nafshi
5. Summary
Conclusion
Bibliography
Indexes

Reviews

a careful, well-informed, and judicious guide through these treacherous waters, often offering important new insights

Carol A. Newsom, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia

Readership

All those interested in Qumran studies, prayer and ritual studies, early Jewish and Christian liturgy, cultural anthropology, and the social contexts of religious communities in the Second Temple period.

About the author(s)

Russell C.D. Arnold, Ph.D. (2005) in Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, University of California, Los Angeles, is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at DePauw University in Greencastle, IN. He has also written on the relationship between sacrifice and prayer at Qumran.

This volume investigates the layers of meaning of the Qumran community's liturgical practice as prayer (communication with the divine), ritual (actions that establish and reinforce the social and ideological structures of the community), and speech (containing both verbal and non-verbal communication).
After a chapter on the social and ideological structures of the Qumran community, each successive chapter covers a different type of liturgy: Rites of Passage, Feasts and Fasts, Calendrical Rites, Rites of Affliction, Political Rites, and Rites of Communion.
Each chapter presents the evidence for each practice and the social implications of the practice, especially with respect to community identity.

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