Introduction to the Dead Sea Scrolls
This is the presentation I gave in 2008 at the University of California, entitled “Judaism, Christianity and the Dead Sea Scrolls.” In this lecture I cover the discovery of the scrolls, the archaeology of Qumran, the nature of the library, and its significance for the study of Judaism, Christianity and their common destiny. The lecture is accompanied by a slideshow and can be used to introduce novice students to the scrolls.
Sukenik and the Dead Sea Scrolls, Part II
The Non-Biblical Scrolls
Eleazar Sukenik, National Library of Israel, Schwadron collection
Regarding the non-biblical scrolls, in this early use of the War Scroll and the Hodayot that were in his possession, but also the Pesher Habakkuk and Rule of the Community that he had seen but not been able to purchase, he recognized that previously unknown texts provided an entrée to understanding the religious lifeof the last two centuries B.C.E. He saw Pesher Habakkuk as showing the antiquity of midrashic literature among the Jews, although he later clarified this position. Sukenik recognized the script of the scrolls from various tombs that had been found in an area of Jerusalem. This, in fact, is how he dated the scrolls. (He saw as especially close the Uzziah inscription that he had himself discovered.) He also noted the peculiar spelling system of the scrolls, which he saw as dating to this early date.
Sukenik also pointed to earlier discoveries in the same area. In 1917 there had been a discovery of Hebrew and Greek biblical manuscripts hidden in dry vessels, including in one report, a Greek Psalm text used by Origen in the Hexapla.
Sukenik concluded his general… Continue reading
Review of Kosher Jesus by Shmuley Boteach
In March of this year I reviewed Kosher Jesus by Shmuley Boteach. Here is an excerpt from the review:
Shmuley Boteach’s Kosher Jesus is a bold attempt by a person of great ability with no formal training in New Testament studies or the study of Second Temple Judaism to present a Jewish treatment of the founder of Christianity, his relationship to the Jewish people and the narrative of his birth, career and death in the Gospels. Beyond that, Boteach sets forth an entirely new and controversial paradigm for Jewish understanding of Jesus and for Jewish-Christian relations…
From the beginning, Boteach wants us to his book as totally revolutionary. We will see that parts of it are, in fact, totally unoriginal and that those parts that are most original put forward ideas that this reviewer finds to be highly questionable…
What is unfortunate, however, is that an entire world of scholarship on Second Temple Judaism, much of it the result of the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, makes absolutely no appearance…
Read the complete review here in PDF format.
