In this study, Stone endeavors to demonstrate that certain social groupings within Judaism in the Second Temple period may reasonably be described as secret societies. Stone's examination begins with a definition of basic criteria for groups that will ultimately qualify for inclusion under this rubric: (1) limited membership; and (2) a process of gradual initiation into esoteric doctrine or praxis. These a priori considerations then inform the study as a whole.
Beginning with chapter 1, Stone explicitly prioritizes for consideration the Essenes and Therapeutae. The Qumran sectarians in particular are characterized as an ideal test case, owing to their fortuitous attestation by both “insider” and “outsider” evidence; accordingly, they are treated as the study's point of departure. In chapter 2, the author rejects the prevalent anachronism of attempting to derive a normative typology for ancient esoteric groups from Renaissance Hermeticism, instead seeking to locate the phenomenon of secrecy within the more apposite context of ancient social convention. Stone first examines how the ancient use of esoteric literary and hermeneutical modalities may have functioned as claims of authority. He then revisits his own earlier research into apocalyptic literature, focusing on the formulaic tabulations of revealed lore within the genre, and identifying a manifest discrepancy between such secret (cosmological, eschatological, etc.) knowledge as is typically claimed in these summary lists, and the content actually revealed in the course of the narrative. Since apocalyptic, in its wide circulation, may have constituted more of an exoteric than an esoteric literature, Stone posits that this suggestive incongruence may betray the existence of an underlying esoteric lore: a closely guarded tradition intimated by, but not fully revealed in, the texts themselves.
The social dimension is explored further in chapter 3, where the author draws heavily on earlier sociological studies to consider how secrecy may be utilized both to define a given esoteric group against the majority culture, and to structure its internal power hierarchy. Stone then proceeds to examine how claims of esoteric religious experience may have been intended to consolidate authority, whether in the context of actual group power dynamics or merely as a literary motif within various textual traditions.
Chapter 4 departs from methodological considerations and moves instead to the specific analysis of Stone's proposed comparanda, as he examines the Greco-Roman mystery religions as potential analogues to the Jewish groups under discussion. Agreeing with the opinio communis that the Qumran sectarians are to be identified with the Essenes, Stone ultimately concludes that (particularly as represented in the Community Rule and the Damascus Document) they did in fact represent such a secret group. In support of this assessment he notes that the Qumran group not only featured an exclusive and hierarchical social structure, but also “cultivated and transmitted secret teaching” (67), although he does acknowledge that, given their special focus on the community's collective spiritual and eschatological standing, the analogy with the mystery religions is imperfect. Next, the use of cryptic scripts in certain manuscripts is adduced as evidence that the community took pains to keep certain teachings secret, and also that such teachings were revealed to initiates in the course of a graded system of progressive initiation, as was characteristic of the mystery cults. In the case of the Therapeutae, the author focuses on their attested penchant for allegory and somniloquy in attempting to prove that they too practiced secret traditions that would justify their characterization as an esoteric society.
Stone then continues the examination of the Qumran sectarians' apparent social organization in chapter 5. Again appealing in particular to the Community Rule, he discerns a hierarchical structure in the chain of authority, beginning at the top with the Maskil, running down through the “inner, elite group” (85) of fifteen who are selected for additional instruction, and finally reaching the lowest level with the membership at large. In addition, Stone characterizes another pattern evinced in Essene praxis—namely, careful selection of candidates, followed by regular evaluation and confirmation by oaths—as a progressive system of initiation. Thus, on the assumption that they feature both a hierarchical authority structure and a graduated initiatory process, the Qumran Essenes are asserted to fit the typical pattern of a secret society.
In chapter 6, the scope of the inquiry is widened to consider whether the jealous reservation of technical knowledge may indicate that certain other ancient Jewish traditions stemmed from secret groups. The art of divination is singled out as an Essene “specialty” (93); Stone suggests the possibility of an esoteric school dedicated to its teaching. Several other groups are considered without an attempt at unequivocal categorization. Finally, the author returns to the hypothesis of a tradition of secret lore behind apocalyptic literature, suggesting that an esoteric line of transmission may lie behind works like 4 Ezra, which may in turn even imply some “societal corollary” (116).
Stone extends his analysis of apocalyptic literature in chapter 7, citing evidence to suggest that it may display salient characteristics of secret societies: first, the typical tripartite structure (leader, inner circle, and full membership, as in the Ascension of Isaiah and 2 Baruch); and second, the formulaic claim to the possession of forbidden lore (in 1 Enoch and Jubilees). Chapter 8 briefly concludes the study, first cautioning against the tendency to make sweeping inferences about the (social) “circles behind” (137) any given written source, and finally offering closing observations about the nature and genesis of secret groups in general.
As a whole, the work presents a detailed review of the general phenomenon of secrecy in ancient Judaism, and suggests any number of potential avenues for future scholarship. Specialists may be somewhat frustrated by the study's occasionally heavy reliance on secondary literature, as the author's meticulous attention to the contours of past research seems at times to take priority over immediate consideration of the primary sources (as, for example, in sections 3.1 and 3.2, where the argument is principally structured via Forschungsbericht). Further—and perhaps due to the understandable attempt to draw together the various strands of investigation more overtly in order to make the work accessible to a wider audience—the logic can tend to be somewhat forced. There are unfortunate instances of tautological reasoning (“secrecy [is] a central, constitutive element of secret, esoteric groups in Hellenistic-Roman antiquity,” 15); and argumentation from silence (“Because these sectarian writings and their typical terminology are unknown outside Qumran, we must conclude that … they came under the ban included in the initiates' oaths…. The members did not reveal them,” 80). However, Stone's work succeeds overall as an examination of the Essenes in particular over against quite a wide spectrum of intriguing comparative evidence, from the ḥavurot to the Manicheans. In this regard, the study should prove appealing to a general readership, and certainly gives occasion for considering ancient Jewish social organization in a new light.
