Date of Award

2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

College

Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary

Program

Religion, Old Testament Studies PhD

First Advisor

John W. Reeve

Second Advisor

Roy E. Gane

Third Advisor

P. Richard Choi

Abstract

Problem

The motif of the polluting enemy in the sanctuary is an important point of departure in the articulation of community boundaries in Hebraic-Christian culture. This particular motif has the potential to explain, at least in part, how Jewish and Christian communities would have understood the apocalyptic evil other and, from this understanding, set boundaries for their holy communities. Texts such as Dan 8 and 2 Thess 2 have been the locus classicus of the so-called antichrist, and ever since their interpretation has shaped how Christians and Jews have understood the enemy to their respective communities. In the history of ideas, the identity of the polluting enemy in sacred space has been articulated in two different ways: (a) as a complete outsider who invades the precincts of the holy place, and (b) as an insider who threatens the sacred status of a religious community from within. Although most modern biblical commentators advocate the first, the earliest interpreters seem to have seen it differently. Instead of a Gentile king like Antiochus invading the Temple in Jerusalem, Jews and Christians are mostly concerned about the wicked priests desecrating their sacred rituals, communities, and teachings, where God was found for them. Though it has been pointed out that apostasy was a main characteristic of the antichrist in early Christianity and Second Temple Jewish texts, no study I am familiar with has established this in the early period of biblical interpretation by investigating the particular theme of desecration of the sanctuary, which is arguably one of the main characteristics of the eschatological enemy in passages like Dan 8 and 2 Thess 2.

Method

This research is primarily a textual analysis of the DSS and Latin Christian literature on the theme of the desecration of sacred space, with a focus on pollution. The approach used in this dissertation is influenced by the studies of Pierre Bourdieu and the concept of canonical ecology. According to this framework, religious communities that see in the texts they curate their raison d’être develop particular scribal practices that are shaped not only by their community’s environment but also by their members' identities. In line with this assumption, I use an interdisciplinary approach since the theme under discussion involves purity (ritual), holy space (religious geography), terminological analysis, and sociological implications. So, I consider the framework of (a) canonical ecology to understand the worldview of the religious communities involved in the production and dissemination of the texts under investigation; (b) content analysis, mainly formulated by Laurence Bardin, to objectively measure categories of sacred space and desecration and ancient texts. And in the background of my socio-linguistic analysis, I consider some concepts from (c) ritual studies and (d) sacred geography.

Results

By analyzing the Dead Sea Scrolls, and some Ante-Nicene Latin Christian Writers informed by the investigation of the Hebrew Bible and the Old Testament Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha, I found that the primary concern regarding desecration was the possibility that an insider would become corrupt and threaten the sanctity of God in the community’s place of worship. Though complete outsiders, like a Gentile king, are contemplated as a potential and serious threat to the sacred community, it is often as a result of infidelity on the part of some members of their community.

Subject Area

Sacrilege; Tabernacle--Desecration; Temple of Jerusalem (Jerusalem)--Desecration; Bible. Daniel 2--Criticism, interpretation, etc.; Bible. Thess, 2nd. -- Criticism, interpretation, etc.; Antichrist; Dead Sea scrolls

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