The Meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls: Their Significance For Understanding the Bible, Judaism, Jesus, and Christianity

Ever since their discovery in 1947 the Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS) have been the subject of a prodigious amount scholarly research and popular speculation. In this wonderful tour de force leading DSS scholars James Vanderkam and Peter Flint provide an outstanding overview of these ancient documents and their relevance to Jewish and Christian religious traditions. While the book has much strength, the overview of contextual and technical issues; the DSS relevance to the Old Testament (OT)/Hebrew Bible and New Testament (NT) and the refutation of some leading speculative theories, are particularly valuable.* First, with respect to broad contextual issues, the authors provide an excellent overview of the discovery, the various documents and salient technical issues such as translation, reconstruction and dating. The discussion of the different archaeological, palaeographical and carbon- 14 dating techniques is particularly helpful and informative* Second, the text provides a comprehensive book-by-book analysis of the scrolls and their relationship to the major OT textual traditions (Masoeretic, Septuagint and Samaritan Pentateuch), which also includes the respective Jewish, Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox apocrypha and pseudepigrapha. This compilation and synthesis is an invaluable reference - articulate, concise and even-handed..* Third, while the DSS have less direct reference to the NT the analysis in this area is also a valuable asset to NT students and scholars. The chapter dedicated to O'Callaghan's claim that NT fragments are included in the Dead Seas may be of particular interest to Christians. While not definitive the authors make a strong case that the specific fragments identified are unlikely to be NT excerpts. The analysis of contextual and stylistic similarities between DSS and NT books also provide helpful historic context.* Finally, while not a primary focus of the book, the gentle yet firm refutation of the silly sensationalist theories advocated by Allegro, Thiering, and Eisenman is a worthwhile read for the general reader. Unfortunately, this text is probably not an ideal forum to reach the popular audience that would most benefit from this discussion.Overall, this is the definitive DSS overview - to date - essential reading for all NT and OT students. A good reading companion to this text is the DSS translation by Wise, Abegg and Cook.

If you want to hear the different explanations of the early Christians and the ancient sects known as the Essenes this is a must buy. One treasure is the confirming of many books of the Psudeographical works such as Jubilees and 1Enoch, and the Apocryphal writings as well, as an index of the findings. If you are a fan of "the Book of the Parables" be prepared to be disappointed, it wasn't found with the other four books, BUT there is a book of the giants that was found. Bought the HARDBACK version for a buck... Wow!!!

Many readers will enjoy this textbook that gives an overview of the Dead Sea Scrolls. It will help to guide novices and even more experienced readers through the meanders of the problems, establishing also the academic landmarks that indicate the limits of subjective interpretations.The information the book contains can however be easily found elsewhere and in that respect is more helpful as a good reference book than as a goldmine of original thought.This is not a book for readers who are hoping for fresh paths to be disclosed between the Scrolls and what came later.

There are better books regarding the Dead Sea Scrolls...

This book describes everything you ever wanted to know about the Dead Sea Scrolls. The book points out that the scrolls collaborate the content of the books in the Holy Bible. Of interest, a few of the scrolls describe the affairs of a community and have nothing to do with the Holy Bible.

Not what I thought it would be. It did not have the Scrolls themselves. No Biblical or Non Biblical scrolls. All the information provided was interesting as a history of the finding and classify of all the scrolls and fragments. But I wanted to read the scrolls myself which this book did not provided. It should have been titled the History and Processing of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Wasn't in as good shape as described.

Very Good resource. Used it for a course in the DSS.

The book is very interesting and there is a lot of information that helps you understand how the scrollsWe're written and the country's in the caves they were found in and also explains a lot of the findings in the bibleI would recommend it to any one to read itI have sent for a copy of the book for a friend of my at church.

Good

日本版の訳者、編集者の方は…ユダヤ教会、原始キリスト教会、古文献学、聖書考古学などなど多岐にわたり深い専門知識が必須の純然たる学術報告書と言える、この英語原本を…私たち初学者でも何とか理解できるレベルまで丁寧に訳し書いたのかと思うと驚き、感謝の念に堪えません。私は聖書を英語で読んでいるので、正典と死海文書が並べて比較してあり非常に面白く読めました…私にちゃんと理解できるのは、その部分においてのみ(笑)あとは全く歯が立ちません。なお比較対象の英語聖書はNRSV (NEW REVICED STANDERD VIRSION)が使われています。聖書対象表だけそのままに、日本版を英訳して出したら海外で喜ばれるんじゃないかとすら思います。聖書研究の永遠の定番ですし、この文書は「聖書は教会が捏造した空想物語であり人類の歴史と何ら関連性を持たない。」と声高に主張する無神論者を黙らせる決定的物証となったのですから。