The Dead Sea Scrolls: A Very Short Introduction

For as long as I can remember, it seems, new books keep appearing on the Dead Sea Scrolls (which were discovered in 1947, two years before I was born). At some point I became interested in the subject, but in looking to learn something about it I had a hard time distinguishing between objective books and those that had a particular religious or academic axe to grind. For someone in my shoes, this volume from the Oxford "Very Short Introduction" Series is made to order. The author Timothy H. Lim is a Professor at the University of Edinburgh; he is the author or editor of several academic books dealing with the Dead Sea Scrolls and he is a member of an international team of editors that is producing consensus editions of the texts. Nothing in the book's principal 120-page text made me question my initial assumption that what the work presents is a balanced summary of the weight of current scholarship concerning the Dead Sea Scrolls. Thus, it serves, I think, as a good introduction to the subject. Among the matters addressed are the scrolls themselves, the archaeology of Khirbet Qumran, the prevailing hypothesis that associates the scrolls with a community of Essenes that lived at Qumran, a description of that Essene community, and the reasons for concluding that the scrolls relate to the Jewish faith rather than the early Christian faith. A fair portion of the book, and the most interesting to me, has to do with how the scrolls contribute to the current assessment of the "reliability" (for want of a better word) of the Masoretic Text of the Old Testament. (The book also raises a few examples where the Masoretic Text appears to be flawed, one of which is its presentation of Goliath as an improbable giant of 9 feet 9 inches in height, in contrast to two other texts, one from the Dead Sea Scrolls, that present him as being a much more plausible 6 feet 9 inches tall.) Lim identifies, and debunks, some of the more sensational works that purport to interpret or base historical conclusions on the Dead Sea Scrolls. One of the more infamous such works, which Lim calmly addresses and dismisses, is "Jesus the Man" by Barbara Thiering, which purported to show that Jesus did not die on the Cross, but survived, married Mary Magdalene, and fathered several children. Lim's writing style is a little dry and academic, but by and large it is plain enough that I could understand it without undue effort. The only part of the book that became tedious and made demands on my concentration similar to those from my college days was the chapter on the Qumran community. By no means is THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS the be-all and end-all for the interested layperson, but it does provide a reliable orientation for further, more in-depth reading. And if I never get around to such reading, I at least now know something rather than next-to-nothing about the subject.

Given all the recent fictionalized scandals (not to mention the very unfortunate non-fictionalized ones) about impropriety and conspiracies surrounding religious institutions, it comes as no surprise that a recent hype has risen around a significant archeological find: the Dead Sea Scrolls. Controversy has followed the discovery of these some 25,000 fragments (depending on how one counts) of ancient documents. Some have claimed that academics and religious authorities have intentionally kept the scrolls from view because they overturn today's conception of "religious truth." These scandals held water before the whole lot of the scrolls were released for research in the early 1990s. Critics held that "compromising documents" could already be destroyed, but no proof of that accusation has apparently surfaced. Timothy Lim, a Dead Sea Scrolls expert and author of the very tiny but very readable "The Dead Sea Scrolls: A Very Short Introduction" debunks the myths that continue to vaporize around what he calls the greatest manuscript find of the 20th century. Not only that, this little book provides a sobering and enlightening view of the Scrolls from the Dead Sea. The true importance of the scrolls lies in historical research and that they now stand as the earliest known copies of Biblical texts. Lim gives a very high level view of the Scrolls' history and importance. No longer under lock and key, the scrolls emerge as decisive documents for understanding Second Temple Judaism. Extremely few documents from that period have surfaced, so the unexpected boon from the caves near Qumran has proved betyond fruitful. Lim points out that, given some of the scrolls' textual variations, there was far more doctrinal tolerance in early Judaism that previously thought. The beliefs, culture and theories surrounding the Qumran communities also takes up a large part of the book. Just who penned the scrolls remains contested. The dominant theory involves the ascetic Essene sect, known as the "Qumran-Essene hypothesis." It is not without its problems. Lim points out the disparate groups of evidence: the scrolls, the ruins at Khirbet Qumran and ancient sources describing the Essenes. No definitive evidence to link these three sources has appeared. Lim outlines the challenges this theory faces, but points out that many scholars consider this the most likely theory given current evidence. Also, Lim assumes this theory for the remainder of the book. Rather detailed discussions of Essenes, their culture and settlements fills the book's second half. Probably the most surprising revelation involves the finding of missing or alternate wordings for now entrenched Biblical texts. The most dramatic involves a missing paragraph from 1 Samuel 11. Others involve the naming of cities and the supposed height of Goliath. Lim also declares that no traces of early Christianity appear in the scrolls. He states unequivocally that the Scrolls are not Christian documents. The text allows a

I read this as a review before seeing the exhibition of the Dead Sea Scrolls. I have read a great deal about them throughout the years but didn't want to go back and re-read whole books. This is also a good book for those who know nothing about the Scrolls and want to start somewhere.

Lim's "short" introduction packs more information into 134 pages than most do in 300+. This is a terrific resource for those who want a strong, basic grasp of Scroll scholarship and archeology. My only complaint is that Lim's bias shows through in his excitement regarding several Scroll controversies. Anyone interested in the Scrolls will find this a helpful resource.

I am a fan of the VSI - Very Short Introduction - Series done by the Oxford University Press. On literally hundreds of subjects, they provide a survey with enough depth and detail to be worthwhile to the non-specialist, a wide enough range to useful for students looking for authoritative information, and good as a general outline of the fields or subjects as preparation for further study. This particular volume on the Dead Sea Scrolls touches on one of my areas of interest that I have been following for over a quarter of a century (and it pains me to realise that I am indeed old enough to have areas of study that reach back that far). When I first encountered information about the scrolls, one controversy about them was over ownership rights and publication rights - there were conspiracy theories about why the scrolls were being withheld, and no such thing as a complete volume of the scrolls. These issues are included in Timothy Lim's text, as that story has become part of the history of the scrolls. Lim also addresses the role of the Dead Sea Scrolls as a cultural icon: 'Many people have heard of the Dead Sea Scrolls, but few know what they are or the significance they have for our understanding of the Old Testament or Hebrew Bible, ancient Judaism, and the origins of Christianity.' The scrolls have been a media sensation for what they are more so than for what they contain; the location where they were found (a mysterious place, the Dead Sea, the site of ancient battles and settlements, and a place that is still in turmoil today) also played a part of in the mystery of the scrolls, as did the Catholic-dominated scholarly team that worked on the translations and reconstruction for so long (conspiracy theories still resonate in works such as the Da Vinci Code). Lim also highlights the role of the Biblical Archaeology Society in 'freeing' the scrolls from the captivity of the scholarship team. Lim discusses the history of the scrolls as an archaeological find, and puts forward several of the theories of their origins. The primary theory that Lim develops in good detail is the Qumran-Essene origin, which is the dominant theory among scroll scholars today. The archaeological sites are largely situated near the ancient settlement of Qumran, at the north end of the Dead Sea (an hour's drive from Jerusalem today, but a day's journey or more from Jerusalem in ancient Judea). Lim's discussion of de Vaux's archeological work on Qumran is one of the best brief overviews that I have read across several dozen books on the scrolls. Lim discusses the scrolls themselves, discussing many of the difficulties of working with them. He mentions that there are 800 to 900 scrolls (and why we don't know for certain just how many of them there are in the collections), consisting of 25,000 fragments or more. Piecing them together is just one part of the problem; not having all the pieces complicates matters, and not having an accurate guide to follow