Question

Which group of Jews was most similar to Jesus of Nazareth? Why?

Answer 1

The Essenes were the group seen as having similarities with Jesus of Nazareth. The Essenes and Jesus (and his followers) emphasized essentially the same hermeneutical principle, as their scripture and prophecy pointed only to their own time and group. Both were Jewish groups who emphasized shared possessions with “brothers” and they were products of Jewish apocalypticism. Clearly, the two Jewish groups shared also an eschatological emphasis, an absolute commitment to their own ideas and beliefs, and were related to a somewhat minor phenomenon in Early Judaism- a messianic theology.