Date of Award

1-1-2015

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Department

Religious Studies

First Advisor

Alison Schofield, Ph.D.

Second Advisor

Pamela Eisenbaum

Third Advisor

Jacob Kinnard

Keywords

Community rule, Dead Sea Scrolls, Edward Soja, Spatial theory

Abstract

This project is a spatial reading of the Community Rule (1QS) that examines how space is used as a response to the perceived defilement of the Jerusalem Temple and how it addresses the problems of atonement and priestly authority for a community without a physical temple. Edward Soja’s concept of Thirdspace—social space transformed by material and mental spaces—illuminates how temple, military, and judicial spaces order social and divine relationships for those who followed 1QS. In turn, this spatial practice creates a new place that enables the community to contest the Jerusalem Temple’s authority while legitimizing its own. While Edward Soja’s notion of Thirdspace guides my understanding of space and place, I flesh out his ideas with Mikhail Bakhtin’s work on discourse and heteroglossia and Pierre Bourdieu’s work on practice and habitus. Together, these three thinkers provide a theoretical framework for reading 1QS and examining how spatial discourse and practice functioned for and informed the identity of its authors.

Publication Statement

Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.

Provenance

Received from ProQuest

Rights holder

Melissa Pula

File size

232 p.

File format

application/pdf

Language

en

Discipline

Religion

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