La croyance des Esséniens en la vie future : immortalité, résurrection, vie éternelle ? histoire d'une croyance dans le judaïsme ancien

Abstract

The publication of the remains of a fragmentary manuscript from qumran which forms the basis of the present research has led us to synthesize the origins of the belief in the after-life in ancient israel in order to establish better the milieu in which the present manuscript originated. It appears that this text belongs, in all probability, to the essenes group and that it is, indisputably, the earliest witness to belief in the life of the just prior to the general gudgment, a fact otherwise confirmed by an attentive re-reading of the other manuscripts found there, which have been at the centre of debate on this issue since their discovery. It appears that the essenes whose hasidean origins have been demonstrated made their own doctrine of daniel 12. One consequence of this is that the observations of flavius josephus inspire less confidence than those of hippolytus of rome. Since it represents a position contrary to that of the generality of scholars, the impression of this manuscript should not be under-estimated. Strong zoroastrian influences are, moreover, detectable in the eschatology of the essenes.

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