Men of perfect holiness: Essene religious virtuosity in Jerusalem and the crowd converted at Pentecost (Acts 2)

Claus-Hunno Hunzinger made an early study [‘Beobachtungen zur Entwicklung der Disziplinarordnung der Gemeinde von Qumrān’, in Hans Bardtke (ed.), Qumran-Probleme: Vorträge des Leipziger Symposions über Qumran-Probleme vom 9. bis 14. Oktober 1961(Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1963), pp. 231–247] of the development of the Rule of the Community, commenting on the role of the group of exceptional holiness of 1QS VIII within the yachadh. I am pleased to contribute to his memorial volume this study of the gathering for celebration of the Essene Covenant renewal festival at Pentecost of the Jerusalem settlement of the intensely communal Essene religious virtuosi, Jesus’ establishment of his founding group of Twelve and others amongst their number, and the conversion of many from this influential Jerusalem community to Jesus’ post-Easter community of disciples on the occasion of Peter’s Pentecost sermon (Acts 2).