Dead Sea Scrolls Today

By: James C. VanderKam

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Paperback | 28 June 2010 | Edition Number 2

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260 Pages

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22.8 x 15.4 x 1.4

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Best-selling book on the Scrolls, updated to reflect current scholarship and recent debates

The premier Dead Sea Scrolls primer ever since its original publication in 1994, James VanderKam's Dead Sea Scrolls Today won the Biblical Archaeology Society's Publication Award in 1995 for the Best Popular Book on Biblical Archaeology. In this expanded and updated edition the book will continue to illuminate the greatest archaeological find in modern times.

While retaining the format, style, and aims of the first edition, the second edition of The Dead Sea Scrolls Today takes into account the full publication of the texts from the caves and the post-1994 debates about the Qumran site, and it contains an additional section regarding information that the Scrolls provide about Second Temple Judaism and the groups prominent at the time. Further, VanderKam has enlarged the bibliographies throughout and changed the phrasing in many places. Finally, quotations of the Scrolls are from the fifth edition of Geza Vermes's translation, The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English (Penguin, 1997).

Industry Reviews

Choice Magazine, Outstanding Academic Title (2010) From reviews of the first edition Commonweal "This is the book for those interested in a sober, careful, and well-written account of the discovery of the Scrolls, their meaning, and the current state of research on them. A well-organized and highly readable account." Hebrew Studies "An attractive book, easy to read, and with excellent photographs. VanderKam has rendered a much-needed service to the Dead Sea Scrolls by presenting such a thoughtful, well-reasoned, and balanced treatment." Church & Synagogue Libraries "This is the book congregational libraries need to help readers put in perspective much that has come about as a result of the discovery of the Scrolls a half century ago." Journal of Biblical Literature "Among the many books on the Dead Sea Scrolls, this one can be recommended as the best popular recitation of the history of the sites, of the texts, and of the scholarly process."

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Non-Fiction Religion & Beliefs Judaism Jewish Sacred Texts Christianity Biblical Studies & Exegesis Archaeology Archaeology by Period & Region Biblical Archaeology Religion History of Religion

Preface to the Second Edition	p. xii
Preface to the First Edition	p. xiv
Discoveries	p. 1
Introduction	p. 1
The Qumran Discoveries	p. 2
The First Cave	p. 2
The Seven Original Scrolls	p. 2
The Cave Itself	p. 2
The Other Caves	p. 13
The Ruins of Qumran	p. 20
The de Vaux Excavations and Interpretations	p. 21
The Buildings	p. 21
The Cemeteries	p. 25
Subsequent Studies and Interpretations	p. 26
The Buildings	p. 26
The Cemeteries	p. 31
Methods for Dating the Discoveries	p. 33
Methods for Dating the Texts	p. 33
Paleography	p. 33
Accelerator Mass Spectrometry	p. 35
Internal Allusions	p. 39
Methods for Dating the Other Archeological Remains	p. 41
Carbon 14	p. 41
Pottery	p. 41
Coins	p. 41
Survey of the Manuscripts	p. 47
Biblical Texts	p. 47
Biblical Scrolls	p. 48
Targums	p. 50
Tefillin and Mezuzot	p. 51
Apocryphal and Pseudepigraphal Texts	p. 52
Apocrypha	p. 52
Tobit	p. 52
Sirach (Ecclesiasticus or the Wisdom of Jesus ben Sira)	p. 53
Letter of Jeremiah (= Baruch 6)	p. 54
Psalm	p. 151
Pseudepigrapha	p. 54
Enoch or 1 Enoch	p. 55
Jubilees	p. 57
Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs	p. 58
New Pseudepigrapha	p. 60
Other Texts	p. 61
Commentaries on Biblical Material	p. 62
Continuous Commentaries	p. 62
The Habakkuk Commentary (1QpHab)	p. 64
The Nahum Commentary (4Q169)	p. 67
The Commentary on Psalms (4Q171, 173)	p. 69
Thematic Commentaries	p. 70
Florilegium (4Q174)	p. 70
The Testimonia (4Q175)	p. 70
The Melchizedek Text (nQMclch)	p. 73
A Commentary on Genesis (4Q252)	p. 74
Paraphrases	p. 75
Legal Texts	p. 75
The Damascus Document	p. 76
The Rule of the Community	p. 77
The Temple Scroll	p. 80
Some of the Works of the Torah (4QMMT)	p. 81
Writings for Worship	p. 83
The Cycle of Worship	p. 83
Liturgical Texts	p. 84
Calendrical Texts	p. 85
Poetic Compositions	p. 86
The Thanksgiving Hymns	p. 86
Other Poems	p. 87
Eschatological Works	p. 88
The War Rule	p. 88
Texts about the New Jerusalem	p. 90
Wisdom Texts	p. 90
4Q184 Wiles of the Wicked Woman	p. 91
4Q185 Sapiential Work	p. 91
Instruction	p. 91
The Copper Scroll (3Q15)	p. 92
Documentary Texts	p. 93
The Identification of the Qumran Group	p. 97
The Case for the Essene Hypothesis	p. 97
The Evidence from Pliny the Elder	p. 97
The Contents of the Qumran Texts and Essene Beliefs and Practices	p. 101
Theology	p. 102
Determinism	p. 102
The Afterlife	p. 105
Practice	p. 107
Nonuse of Oil	p. 108
Property	p. 108
The Pure Meal	p. 111
Bodily Functions	p. 112
Spitting	p. 113
Problems With the Essene Hypothesis	p. 114
Entry Procedures	p. 114
Marriage	p. 116
The Name Essene	p. 118
Other Theories	p. 119
Sadducees	p. 119
Jerusalem Origins	p. 122
The Qumran Essenes	p. 127
A Sketch of the Qumran Group's History	p. 127
The Pre-Qumran Period	p. 128
The Qumran Period	p. 133
Phase I	p. 133
Phase II	p. 136
A Sketch of Qumran Thought and Practice	p. 137
Predeterminism	p. 137
The Two Ways	p. 138
The Community of the New Covenant	p. 139
Scriptural Interpretation	p. 141
The Latter Days	p. 141
Special Laws	p. 141
The Universe	p. 142
Worship	p. 144
The End and the Messiahs	p. 145
The Qumran Essenes and Their Place in Judaism	p. 147
The Scrolls and the Old Testament	p. 157
The Text of the Hebrew Bible/ Old Testament	p. 157
The Period of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament	p. 158
The Pre-Qumran Textual Witnesses	p. 159
The Masoretic Text	p. 159
The Septuagint	p. 160
The Samaritan Pentateuch	p. 161
Qumran Contributions	p. 162
The Great Isaiah Scroll	p. 162
Qumran Agreements with the Septuagint against the Masoretic Text	p. 163
Minor Examples	p. 163
Major Examples	p. 164
Jeremiah	p. 164
Samuel	p. 166
An Unusual Case	p. 167
Theories about Textual Development	p. 168
A Theory of Local Texts	p. 168
A Theory of Textual Plurality and Variety	p. 169
Successive Literary Editions	p. 171
New Information About the History of Some Texts	p. 171
The Book of Psalms	p. 172
Daniel 4	p. 176
A Canon of Scripture	p. 178
Evidence outside Qumran	p. 178
The Prologue to Sirach (the Wisdom of Jesus ben Sira)	p. 179
2 Mace 2:13-15	p. 181
Philo, On the Contemplative Life 25	p. 182
Luke 24:44	p. 182
Matt 23:35	p. 183
4 Ezra 14:23-48	p. 184
Josephus, Against Apion 1.37-43	p. 185
Evidence from Qumran	p. 186
Criteria
Authoritative Books	p. 188
Books Quoted as Authorities	p. 188
Other Authoritative Books	p. 190
Jubilees	p. 191
1 Enoch	p. 192
The Temple Scroll	p. 193
The Scrolls and the New Testament	p. 197
Introduction	p. 197
Similarities Between the Scrolls and the New Testament	p. 201
Language and Text	p. 201
Language	p. 201
The Many	p. 202
The Guardian	p. 203
Other Examples	p. 203
Text	p. 204
New Testament Papyri in Cave 7?	p. 204
Qumran Words and Phrases in the New Testament	p. 204
The Sermon on the Mount	p. 205
Characters	p. 206
John the Baptist	p. 206
Others	p. 209
Practices	p. 210
Shared Property	p. 210
The Meal	p. 211
Calendar	p. 214
Eschatology	p. 215
Messianism	p. 215
Biblical Interpretation	p. 219
Teachings	p. 222
Conclusions	p. 224
Controversies about the Dead Sea Scrolls	p. 227
Editing and Publishing the Scrolls	p. 227
Events Since 1989	p. 233
Postscript	p. 243
Index	p. 249*********
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

Dead Sea Scrolls Today

At a Glance

Paperback

Industry Reviews

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