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Title: The Meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls : Their Significance For Understanding the Bible, Judaism, Jesus, and Christianity by James VanderKam, Peter Flint ISBN: 0-06-068464-X Publisher: Harper SanFrancisco Pub. Date: 26 November, 2002 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $34.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.33 (3 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: For beginners only
Comment: This is a very thorough presentation of the whole range of material relating to the Scrolls. But the only new information is the explanation of scientific processes used in scroll anaylses.
For a scholar, student, or reader who has already spent time with this subject, this book adds nothing except that scientific material.
Rating: 5
Summary: Comprehensive introduction
Comment: This is the first book I've ever read on the Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS). I got the book after reading a history of paper and thought knowing more about this famous treasure trove of ancient scrolls would make interesting reading. I was not disappointed.
The book is nothing if not comprehensive and inclusive. Vanderkam teaches theology at Notre Dame and Flint is co-director of the Dead Sea Scrolls Institute at Trinity Western University in British Columbia. Together, they have produced a comprehensive and easy to read introduction to the subject. They discuss the evidence and the controversies. It is not a didactic tract seeking to make converts, though. If you want an more emotional or intuitive experience of the words written down so long ago, a different text might be appropriate.
It starts with the discovery of the scrolls near Khirbet Qumran, tracing the various Bedouins, art dealers and scholars who identified the scrolls and brought them to world wide attention. We are then treated to a history of 'digs' near the discovery caves and a tentative outline of what we know from the physical evidence. This history includes the rather sad story of scroll deterioration since discovery.
With the physical evidence covered, the authors turn to a detailed review of what we think the scrolls actually say. Scholars think that most of the material represents copies of ancient text that served as 'source' for existent copies, the earliest of which was created about 400 AD. Thus, all our traditional texts are relatively recent copies. In contrast, the DSS were created between 150 BC and 68 AD, 500 years earlier. In essence, the DSS provide a way to 'check' on Jewish, Samaritan and Christian traditions for copying their theological references.
The next section reviews what we know about the 'community' responsible for the scrolls. At this point, the book becomes consciously speculative. The scrolls don't include a tour guide, so we really don't know who copied/wrote all this stuff. The most popular theory involves the Essenes, but the authors are careful to give voice to all the extant theories.
Finally, the book concludes with a review of implications (if any) on how scholars think the DSS relate to the Christian New Testament. The list includes theories the authors dismiss, but they do a good job of putting each theory in the best light possible. The book if nothing, if not inclusive.
"The Meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls" will enrich your understanding of all ancient texts. There are no cataclysmic revelations, just a filling in of a few blanks, corrections for a few mistaken verse translations and confirmation of translation for others. For me, it simply authenticates New Testament writings. One doesn't have to take the New Testament commentary as gospel, but it definitely looks like an authentic product of the era between 25 - 100 AD.
Rating: 5
Summary: Worthy of a Scholar
Comment: In this book VanderKam and Flint present an in-depth survey of the Dead Sea Scrolls with many insights making the book worthy enough of a scholar to read, or in another sense, worthy of the two scholars who wrote it.
The book begins with the discovery, dating, and preservation of the DSS. The archaeological work of de Vaux is well spoken of, but V and F point out his dating may need some adjustment. The site may not have been occupied until the 1st century BCE. There may have been no 30 year gap between Periods I and II. And Yaakov Mosherer (more of his work on coins ought to be read) points out that coins from years four and five of the Revolt are rarer, so there is no need to posit that Qumran was destroyed before 73 BCE.
In their survey of the DSS and Scripture, V and F mention that Psalm 145 is an acrostic poem with a verse missing. For those who do not know, an acrostic poem is one in which the successive verses begin with successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet. In the Masoretic Text and English versions based upon it, Psalm 145 skips the "nun" verse which would occur right after verse 13 in English versions. One of the DSS texts contains the missing verse. The verse from 11QPsA may be translated "God is faithful in his words and gracious in all his deeds."
One will want to grab her/his favorite version of the DSS texts as he makes his way through the sections on the non-biblical texts. There is no text of the Book of Esther among the DSS. However there is a *proto-Esther* to be found. The fragments known as 4Q550 clearly show similarities with the Book of Esther though the same story is not told. For all of the scrolls found among the DSS, one might get the impression that the library was comprehensive. Actually it was not. Works such as the Wisdom of Solomon and other Jewish Greek works are absent. Also notably absent is the pro-Hasmonean 1 Maccabees.
Most readers will pay avid attention to Part Four of the book on the relationship of the DSS to the New Testament. Dispelled are the theories of O'Callaghan, Allegro, and others. The connections between the DSS and the NT are generally nuanced. 4Q521 supports the idea that Jesus saw himself as Israel's Messiah. However Luke 7.21-22 is not a direct quote of 4Q521. Rather it shows that Jesus adopted an extant manner of speaking and gave it his own spin. Common to nowhere else in ancient writings than in 4QMMT and the Pauline writings is the
phrase "works of the law." Because of 4QMMT some scholars are rethinking the traditional Protestant thinking of the use of the phrase in Paul.
The last section is on controversies surrounding the DSS. The recent availability of the DSS in such books as Abegg's _DSS Bible_ and Garcia Martinez's _DSS Translated_ have made us forget that once upon a time Solomon Zeitlin wrote a series of articles in which he claimed the DSS were medieval documents. More recently was the lawsuit by Qimron against Shanks. This section is followed by four appendices one of which is a bibliography of translations and editions of the DSS.
In sum VanderKam and Flint have written a very thorough and very readable survey of the DSS. It is surely worthy reading for those of us who like to read and worthy reading for a scholar as well.
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Title: The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English by Geza Vermes ISBN: 0140278079 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: November, 1998 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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Title: The Archaeology of Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls by Jodi Magness ISBN: 0802826873 Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. Pub. Date: July, 2003 List Price(USD): $18.00 |
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Title: The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible : The Oldest Known Bible Translated for the First Time into English by Martin Abegg, Peter Flint ISBN: 0060600632 Publisher: Harper SanFrancisco Pub. Date: 01 December, 1999 List Price(USD): $39.95 |
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Title: The Dead Sea Scrolls : A New Translation by Michael O. Wise ISBN: 0060692014 Publisher: Harper SanFrancisco Pub. Date: 01 January, 1999 List Price(USD): $20.95 |
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Title: The Complete World of the Dead Sea Scrolls by Philip R. Davies, George J. Brooke, Phillip R. Callaway, Philip R. Davis ISBN: 0500051119 Publisher: Thames & Hudson Pub. Date: June, 2002 List Price(USD): $34.95 |
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