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

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.