The Mystery and Meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls

In _The Mystery and Meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls_ biblical historian Hershel Shanks lifts the veil over the Dead Sea Scrolls. Discovered over 50 years ago, the Scrolls have been clouded by academic competition and political intrigue. What these Scrolls say, and more importantly what they mean to early Christianity, Rabbinic Judiaism and the history of the Near East has been hotly debated. Shanks provides historical context to the Scrolls themselves as well as needed background surrounding the academic dissonance of their significance. Part of the controversey surrounding the Scrolls is the time period they were written: early in the first century CE, contemporaneously with the historical Jesus. As Shanks writes, "For those who want to understand the history of Christianity, the scrolls are exciting and enriching. For those who see Christianity and Christian doctrine as something entirely new and unrelated to its Jewish milieu, the scrolls are threatening." This is exacerbated by the fact that many of those who did the earliest work on the Scrolls (and the archaeological site at Qumran) were priests by avocation. In fact, much of the initial scholarship around the Scrolls was downright shady - parts of the Scrolls became the exclusive academic domain of a single scholar who held access to it and lay claim to first publication rights. These "rights" were in turn bequeathed to students upon their retirement or death. Such behaviour is contrary to the spirit of scholarship not to mention ethically questionable. Fortunately the monopoly on the Scrolls was broken in the late 1970's and early 1980's with the publication of photographs of the Scrolls from when they were first discovered. The question of who wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls is given considerable attention by Shanks who, to his credit, presents a variety of historical interpretations in answering this. Similarly the historical meaning of the Scrolls is detailed. The similarities between Christian stories of Jesus and the dogma of the writers is striking, although maddeningly elusive in providing a definitive answer of whether one is directly related to the other. Shanks argues convincingly that in the time of Jesus, there were many versions of Judiasm; only two survived the Roman destruction of the Temple: what would become Christianity and what would become Rabbinic Judaism. I found Shanks easy to read and authoritaritive on the time period as well as on the scholarship. For those interested in the history of the early Church in general, or the Dead Sea Scrolls specifically, this would be the place to begin.

Herschel Shanks and his publications, primarily Biblical Archaeology Review, are deserving of great credit in the effort to break the small, scholarly monopoly on access to the Dead Sea Scrolls. To this end, Shanks has collected in a few volumes key articles and essays on the Scrolls from leading interpreters (including occasionally one or more of the original enclave of scholars who fought so hard to maintain strict control on access to the majority of the scrolls).Shanks was one of the first to dare to break the stranglehold by publishing previously unpublished scroll fragments; by pulling his finger out of the dike, others also began to publish and reconstruct texts, so that eventually there was no point to maintaining a rigid control on access, both for research and for publication.This story is one of great interest of itself, and shortly I shall be reviewing books which talk in greater detail of the intrigue behind the Scrolls. The current volume under review, however, takes us in a different direction.This volume, `The Mystery and Meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls', concentrates primarily on context (both religious and historical), meaning and implications of the Scrolls. Among the Scrolls were biblical texts (some of which differ slightly, others radically from the biblical texts which have come down to us today), accounting scrolls, commentaries, calendars, and, perhaps the most mysterious and 'juicy', apocalyptic texts, with characters flamboyant even by current celebrity standards, the Teacher of Righteousness and the Wicked Priest. The first few chapters do talk about the Scroll history, including some of the intrigues. However, the bulk of the book examines theories about the proto-Christian and Essene teachings found in the scrolls (and whether or not these labels are even appropriate to apply to the scrolls), illumination on Judaism, especially the complexity of Judaism to be found in the generation around the destruction of the Temple, and looks forward to future research and meaning from the scrolls. `The scrolls emphasise a hitherto unappreciated variety in Judaism of the late Second Temple period, so much sa that scholars often speak not simply of Judaism, but of Judaisms.'Among the various controversies surrounding the scrolls is the determination of the nature of the location where the scrolls were found. Scroll fans know that the first scrolls were found near Qumran, a desert and deserted building complex near the north shore of the Dead Sea. Was this place a villa, a religious outpost, a trading centre, an ancient travel-lodge, a scriptorium? The latter idea was popularised by Roland de Vaux, one of the original enclave of scholars, and an archaeologist who, being a Roman Catholic priest, was more inclined toward the medieval monastic model with which he was more familiar, than with other interpretations (which have been advanced by others, particularly see Norman Golb), but the popular conception and possibly the plurality i

Here is an excellent overview of the history and mystery surrounding the scrolls. In a methodic and easy-to-comprehend manner, Hershel Shanks describes the evolution of scholarly conjecture on several of the individual scrolls and the Qumran community itself. I found the book absolutely tantalizing because of the many key questions about the scrolls that remain unanswered. The author also provided what I consider to be an incisive overview of the impact several of the scrolls have had on Judaism and Christianity during the last four decades. I highly recommend "The Mystery & Meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls" to those seeking a broad, layman's understanding of this incredible archeological find, the peculiar trail of the scrolls since their discovery, and the often contradictory religious conclusions the scrolls have provoked.

This book is one stop shopping for an overview of the content within the scrolls as well as the politics and egos involved in getting the complete translations released with commentary. While it doesn't contain the greatest amount of direct translation, what book could? Thousands of scroll fragments sort of get in the way. This book is a GREAT place to start. The author presents an unbiased view that isn't slanted to Anti-Zionist, Anti-Christian, or even Anti-Liberal viewpoints. I enjoyed it very, very much. Hats off!

This book was well written and explained the real mystery and meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls. The history of how they were found and the politics behind the release of information by the discoverers and the experts studying the scrolls themselves. It is sad to think that politics and ego seperated the lay person from the benefits of the Dead Sea Scrolls for so many years.