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Secret Societies in Ancient Judaism
The sources for the knowledge of Second Temple Judaism (before 70CE) present us with descriptions of a number of groups. Of these, at least the Essenes and the Therapeutae are said to have secret teachings. In scholarship, however, when sociological categories have been applied to them, they analyze them on the model of sects and orthodoxy. Professor Stone’s proposition is to analyze them as secret societies, that is, social groups organised around the imperative of keeping a body of knowledge and practice secret. As an outcome of this imperative, it was necessary to develop a process of testing and initiation which is graded so only very few reached the highest grade and the innermost secret. This model works well with known Jewish groups and enables us to discern traces of others.Click here.usyd.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Alan-Crown-Lecture-2017-with-Michael-Stone1.pdf’>Click here