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Gott und Belial: Traditionsgeschichtliche Untersuchungen zum Dualismus in den Texten aus Qumran (1969) is a book by Peter von der Osten-Sacken.

Abstract

Revision of the author's thesis, Göttingen, 1966/67.

"Peter von der Osten-Sacken’s Gott und Belial: Traditionsgeschichtliche Untersuchungen zum Dualismus in den Texten aus Qumran (1969) is a seminal study of dualistic thought in the Dead Sea Scrolls, with particular focus on the opposition between God and Belial. Through a traditionsgeschichtliche (tradition‑historical) methodology, Osten-Sacken traces the origins, development, and theological function of the Belial figure within the Qumran corpus, situating it within the broader framework of Second Temple Judaism and its apocalyptic worldview. He demonstrates that the Qumran texts articulate a strongly dualistic cosmology in which Belial functions as the leader of the forces of darkness in perpetual conflict with the sons of light, structuring the sectarian community’s self‑understanding and eschatological expectation. The study explores linguistic parallels and conceptual antecedents in Hebrew Bible traditions, early apocalyptic writings, and possible Iranian (Zoroastrian) influences, while carefully distinguishing the distinctive features of Qumran’s dualism from strict cosmological dualism. Osten-Sacken argues that the Dead Sea Scrolls’ portrayal of Belial reflects a sectarian intensification of adversarial motifs, integrating angelology, demonology, and eschatology into a coherent worldview that interprets contemporary historical conflict as part of a cosmic struggle. His work established a critical foundation for subsequent scholarship on Qumran demonology, Jewish dualism, and the origins of Christian Satanology, and remains an indispensable reference in the study of Second Temple apocalyptic thought.--ChatGTP

Editions and translations

Published in Göttingen [Germany]: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1969 (Studien zur Umwelt des Neuen Testaments,6).

Table of contents

External links

• [ Google Books]