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Abstract
This dissertation is a close study of the religious epistemologies of three related Dead Sea Scrolls texts—4QInstruction, the Discourse on the Two Spirits of the Community Rule, and the Hodayot (Thanksgiving Psalms). The major conclusion advanced in this project is that two different religious epistemologies can be detected among these texts. The religious epistemologies of 4QInstruction, the Discourse on the Two Spirits, and the so-called "community hymns" of the Hodayot share a common set of assumptions, concepts, and rhetorical strategies that has been significantly influenced by the wisdom tradition. The religious epistemology of the so-called "teacher hymns" of the Hodayot, however, is grounded not in sapiential but rather in prophetic models of revelation.
Another significant area of exploration in this project is the way that the religious epistemology of each text relates to its tendency to make stark distinctions between insiders and outsiders. It will be demonstrated that religious epistemology is closely related to the establishment of a "sectarian consciousness" in the texts that represent developments of the wisdom tradition.
In addition to these major lines of inquiry, a number of other questions are pursued that are relevant to the analysis of religious epistemology, including the significance of interpretations of Genesis 1-3, the presence or absence of Torah as an explicit and formal source of revelation, and the practical dimensions of particular kinds of claims about divine revelation.
