Wanted - VanderKam book!
Dr. Craig Evans highly recommends the bolded book (below), in his NT306 video series on the Dead Sea Scrolls in Logos Mobile Education. It sounds like a great resource to have, especially with the note recommending it!
I once again recommend Stephen Goranson’s essay, “Others and Intra-Jewish Polemic [as Reflected] in Qumran Texts” which is a very important chapter in a two-volume work edited by Peter Flint and James VanderKam, The Dead Sea Scrolls after Fifty Years: A Comprehensive Assessment. These volumes appeared in 1991 and are widely regarded as the most important statement about the significance of the scrolls after 50 years of research at Qumran. Goranson’s essay is very helpful for understanding who these Essenes are, and it makes it possible then to see the parallels and contrasts when we compare their teaching with the teaching at James, as we’ve just seen, or with other writings of the NT.