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Document Details :

Title: Celibacy in Qumran
Subtitle: Hellenistic Fiction or Reality? Qumran's Attitude toward Sex
Author(s): HEGER, Paul
Journal: Revue de Qumran
Volume: 26    Issue: 1   Date: numéro 101, 2013   
Pages: 53-90
DOI: 10.2143/RQ.26.1.3203299

Abstract :
The study tries to demonstrate the imaginative nature of the Hellenistic historians’ descriptions of the Essenes (assumed to be identical with the Qumran community) that influenced our views on Qumran’s attitude toward marriage, women, and sexual life before the discovery of the Qumran writings. In light of this evidence of unreliability, the author proposes that these portrayals be ignored, concluding that the Qumranites were not celibate, held no derogatory opinions about women, and had no aversion to marriage or to the enjoyment of legally permitted sexual activity.

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