A Short History of the Dead Sea Scrolls
I want to say here and now how grateful I am to the original team of Dead Sea Scrolls scholars who failed to publish the bulk of the scrolls for nearly 40 years and refused to let other scholars see them in the meantime. But for them, I would never have had the exciting life I have led as one of the first generation of scholars to study the full corpus of the scrolls after their release.
Click here to read the rest of this article, “A Short History of the Dead Sea Scrolls and What They Tell Us,” Biblical Archaeology Review, May/June 2015.
One Response to A Short History of the Dead Sea Scrolls
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I am not a Bible scholar and know almost no Hebrew, having done only a diploma in theology. However, I read the Short History of the Dead Sea Scrolls with great interest, and was especially struck by this comment in the conclusion:
“A fascinating corollary to all this scroll research
has been their effect on Jewish-Christian relations.
The scrolls have been part of a wider, post-Holocaust
phenomenon of understanding earliest Christianity as
a Jewish sect. In turn, this historical understanding
has furnished the intellectual basis for the continued
evolution of contemporary Christianity away from
anti-Judaic positions to a renewed understanding of
the common background that Jews and Christians
share.”
For me, the basic difference between Christianity and Judaism – in their original form – is that we disagree on the identity of Messiah.
Much of both Judaism and Christianity has of course departed far from its roots, being in some cases almost unrecognisable as the faith of Abraham, Moses and the apostles, but the scrolls give further insight because of being closer historically.
Sadly, in spite of the quote from the article, anti-Semitism is increasing in other quarters, even among some Christians. But this is to be expected in view of passages such as in Zechariah 12 and 14 – all nations coming against Jerusalem.
May the God of Abraham bless you and aid you in your further work (Numbers 6:24-26).
Jeannette P