Some of this section's listed sources may not be reliable. Please help this article by looking for better, more reliable sources. Unreliable citations may be challenged or deleted. ( June 2018) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message) And your true brothers are all those who do the will of your Heavenly Father and of your Earthly Mother, and not your brothers by blood. [ix] Schonfield, Hugh J. (1991) [1968]. Those Incredible Christians. Tisbury: Element Books. ISBN 0-906540-71-2. OCLC 13536522. In 2020, Meru University offered an exciting course on the relationship between Jesus and a little-known Jewish community called the Essenes. For many Meru University students who had never heard of the Essenes, the course proved to be an eye-opening education.

According to the conventional view, the Essenes disappeared after the First Jewish–Roman War, which also witnessed the destruction of the settlement at Qumran. [3] Scholars have noted the absence of direct sources supporting this claim, raising the possibility of their endurance or the survival of related groups in the following centuries. [8] Some researchers suggest that Essene teachings could have influenced other religious traditions, such as Early Christianity and Mandaeism. [9] [10] Etymology [ edit ]Consider for example that both the Essenes and early believers were said to be followers of "the way". Populous citieslike Jerusalemwere controlled by Sadducees and Pharisees and their scribes of the law. Their version of recorded history and their dominant religious narrative often survived as the only arbiter of what has been passed down to later generations. That narrative is now being challenged by what we are learning about the Essene way of life today.

Goodman, M. (1994), "Sadducees and Essenes after 70 CE", Judaism in the Roman World, Brill, pp.153–162, doi: 10.1163/ej.9789004153097.i-275.38, ISBN 978-90-474-1061-4 , retrieved 2 August 2023 I myself wrote and published a number of books on the Essenes, most of them some twenty years before the discovery of the first scroll in 1947. Starting in 1927, these books were based on certain historical sources such as the works of Josephus, Philo and Plinius, and on manuscripts in the Archives of the Vatican, the Library of the Habsburgs in Vienna, and the Library of the British Museum. [xi] a b c Drower, Ethel Stephana (1960). The secret Adam, a study of Nasoraean gnosis (PDF). London UK: Clarendon Press. Archived (PDF) from the original on 6 March 2014.

To the orthodox Christian community, it may be an understatement to say that Szekely’s books are controversial. 3. To the mystics and esotericists among us, his book has revealed a new way of viewing the early life of Jesus as a member of the Essenes, as were his parents Mary and Joseph, and his experiences with this community that influenced and molded his ministry.