Communities of the Last Days

In Communities of the Last Days, Marvin Pate tells the story of the discovery and publication of the Dead Sea Scrolls and introduces us to these ancient Jewish texts and fragments, and to the community that produced and collected them. Within this remakable evidence of a Jewish sectarian community of the first century, Pate finds an analysis and solution to Israel's plight that offers remarkable points of comparison and contrast with early Christianity as we know it from the New Testament. Both communities saw themselves as the true fulfilment of Israel's exile. But rather than speaking in generalities, this book tackles concrete themes - messianism, mysticism, exile and eschatology, law and justification, monotheism and covenant, the hermeneutics of restoration, and the reinterpretation of the story and symbols of Israel - all viewed through a comparison of Qumran and New Testaments texts. Communities of the Last Days is an enlightening introduction to one among the several diverse Judaisms of the first century and a reminder that Jesus and early Christianity were firmly rooted in first-century Judaism.