Affiliation:
1. Martin Luther University College
Abstract
By analyzing how the term ger is used in the Dead Sea scrolls, particularly
in relation to conversion, this article demonstrates the variety of attitudes
in the community toward outsiders. One tradition reflects tolerance
through a notion of mutable ethnicity: taking on Jewish kinship and
connection to land, the Gentiles who converted became full members as
ger. The scrolls also reflect another, more intolerant tradition in which
the gerim (plur.) were inauthentic converts who had to be excluded from
the community for reasons of kinship and religious practice.
Publisher
Amsterdam University Press