Title
Rethinking the Community as Temple: Discourse and Spatial Practice in the Community Rule (1QS)
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.
Recommended Citation
Pula, Melissa P., "Rethinking the Community as Temple: Discourse and Spatial Practice in the Community Rule (1QS)" (2015). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 527.
https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd/527
Provenance
Received from ProQuest
Rights holder
Melissa Pula
File size
232 p.
Copyright date
2015
File format
application/pdf
Language
en
Discipline
Religion