Christianity shows a resemblance to Essanism, an underdog a…

Christianity shows a resemblance to Essanism, an underdog apocalyptic sect of Judaism that opposed temple worship and the Pharisees. They were influenced by Greek and Zoroastrian ideas. They believed in the immortal soul and the universe as a cosmic battle of good and evil, and esoteric, like a Greek mystery religion. Thus their beliefs were only available to initiates. They were the writers of the dead sea scrolls and the practice of baptism derives from practice of ritual cleanliness. They also seem to be proto-gnostic in their asceticism and their focus on the spiritual world over the physical world, though they did not hate the physical world to the degree that gnostics did later.