a more or less stable context into which “unimportant” movements like the Qumraners and the early Christians can be located. The preoccupation with “important” people is one reason “world history” has so little to say about Jesus. Had he led a military rebellion against the Romans, like Judas the Galilean in A.D. 6, Jesus may have left a greater imprint in history. But a harmless Jewish rabbi from a distant minor province accompanied by only twelve followers, who met his death by crucifixion, would