While the Damascus Document, like other writings found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, has been mined for historical information, with which to reconstruct the history of the Yaḥad, including the process and conditions of its formation and development over time, the present study is interested in discerning the text’s own understanding of the place in history occupied by its community of auditors and learners. Particular attention will be given to the text’s recurring reference to its beginnings (“first ones”) and ends (“last ones”) and to its sense of living in a truncated time-between. Through the close reading of two hortatory sections of the text, the question of how the Yaḥad’s collective social memory informs its self-understanding and practices as it faces both backward and forward in time.

中文翻译：

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大马士革文件中的历史 (?)

虽然大马士革文件与死海古卷中发现的其他著作一样，已被挖掘以获取历史信息，以重建 Yaḥad 的历史，包括其随着时间的推移形成和发展的过程和条件，但本研究很感兴趣在辨别文本自己对由其听者和学习者社区占据的历史地位的理解时。将特别注意文本反复提及其开头（“第一个”）和结尾（“最后一个”）以及它生活在截断的时间间隔中的感觉。通过对文本的两个劝勉部分的仔细阅读，Yaḥad 的集体社会记忆如何在它面对时间的后退和前进时告知其自我理解和实践的问题。