| But the picture of Judaism in this period remained above all the religious system and the various religious groups, like Pharisees, Sadducees and Essenes. |
| I believe most of what Jesus taught and feel confident that there was such a man, probably a member of the Essenes. |
| He was neither a puritan, like the Essenes, nor a ritualist, like the Pharisees. |
| Josephus records that Essenes existed in large numbers, and thousands lived throughout Roman Judaea. |
| Although monasticism is not part of mainstream Judaism, the Essenes, a messianic sect, founded a remote community by the Dead Sea. |
| More recent work by other archaeologists and biblical scholars has questioned the association of the scrolls with the Qumran ruins and the Essenes. |
