A Theology Written in Pencil: Sacred Scholarship and the Vero Essene Yahad

ABSTRACT: This article studies the Vero Essene Yahad, a messianic new religion in the United States that consults the Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS) in order to reconstruct the earliest church. Interviews with affiliates, religious services, and the movement’s internal documents demonstrate how the Yahad builds community around academic study as a sacred act, drawing on the DSS and DSS scholarship as resources to sculpt their own theology and rituals. While the movement is small, the Yahad shows one trajectory of the fastest growing religious demographic in the United States—those unaffiliated with a mainstream religious tradition. This article also considers how DSS scholarship has driven the scrolls’ revitalization in new religions. The Vero Essene Yahad is part of the reception history of the DSS and demonstrates the importance of including theology as data in the scientific study of religion.