The Dead Sea scrolls today / James C. VanderKam. [print]

Includes bibliographies and index.

1. Discoveries. -- Introduction -- The Qumran discoveries: The first cave -- The seven original scrolls -- The cave itself -- The other caves -- The ruins of Qumran -- The de Vaux excavations and interpretations -- The buildings -- The cemeteries -- Subsequent studies and interpretations -- The buildings -- The cemeteries -- Methods for dating the discoveries -- Methods for dating the texts -- Paleography -- Accelerator mass spectrometry -- Internal allusions -- Methods for dating the other archeological remains -- Carbon -- Pottery -- Coins

2. Survey of the manuscripts. -- Biblical texts: Biblical scrolls -- Targums -- Tefillin and Mezuzot -- Apocryphal and pseudepigraphal texts: Apocrypha -- Tobit -- Sirach (Ecclesiasticus or the Wisdom of Jesus ben Sira) -- Letter of Jeremiah (= Baruch 6) -- Psalm 151 -- Pseudepigrapha -- Enoch or 1 Enoch -- Jubilees -- Testaments of the twelve patriarchs -- New pseudepigrapha -- Other texts: Commentaries on biblical material -- Continuous commentaries -- The Habakkuk Commentary (1QpHab) -- The Nahum Commentary (4Q169) -- The Commentary on Psalms (4Q171,173) -- Thematic commentaries -- Florilegium (4Q174) -- The Testimonia (4Q175) -- The Melchizedek text (11QMelch) -- A commentary on Genesis (4Q252) -- Paraphrases -- Legal texts: The Damascus document -- The rule of the community -- The Temple scroll -- Some of the works of the Torah (4QMMT) -- Writings for worship: The cycle of worship -- Liturgical texts -- Calendrical texts -- Poetic compositions -- The thanksgiving hymns -- Other poems -- Eschatological works: The war rule -- Texts about the New Jerusalem -- Wisdom texts: 4Q184 Wiles of the wicked woman -- 4Q185 Sapiential work -- Instruction -- The copper scroll (3Q15) -- Documentary texts

3. The identification of the Qumran Group. -- The case for the Essene hypothesis -- The evidence from Pliny the Elder -- the contents of the Qumran texts and Essene beliefs and practices -- Theology: Determinism -- The afterlife -- Practice: Nonuse of oil -- Property -- The pure meal -- Bodily functions -- Spitting -- Problems with the Essene hypothesis -- Entry procedures -- Marriage -- The name Essene -- Other theories: Sadducees -- Jerusalem origins

4. The Qumran Essenes. -- A sketch of the Qumran group's history -- The pre-Qumran period -- The Qumran period: Phase I -- Phase II -- A sketch of Qumran thought and practice: Predeterminism -- The two ways -- The community of the New Covenant -- Scriptural interpretation: The latter days -- Special laws -- The Universe -- Worship -- The end and the messiahs -- The Qumran Essenes and their place in Judaism

5. The scrolls and the Old Testament. -- The test of the Hebrew Bible / Old Testament -- The period of the Hebrew Bible / Old Testament -- The pre-Qumran textual witnesses: The Masoretic text -- The Septuagint -- The Samaritan Pentateuch -- Qumran contributions: The great Isaiah scroll -- Qumran agreements with the Septuagint against the Masoretic text: Minor examples -- Major Examples: Jeremiah -- Samuel -- An unusual case -- Theories about textual development: A theory of local texts -- A theory of textual plurality and variety -- successive literary editions -- New information about the history of some texts: The Book of Psalms -- Daniel 4 -- A canon of scripture -- Evidence outside Qumran: The prologue to Sirach (the Wisdom of Jesus ben Sira) -- 2 Macc 2:13-15 -- Philo, On the contemplative life 25 -- Luke 24:44 -- Matt 23:35 -- 4 Ezra 14:23-48 -- Josephus, Against Apion 1.37-43 -- Evidence from Qumran: Criteria -- Authoritative books: Books quoted as authorities -- Other authoritative books: Jubilees -- 1 Enoch -- The Temple scroll

6. The scrolls and the New Testament. -- Introduction -- Similarities between the scrolls and the New Testament -- Language and text: Language -- The many -- The guardian -- Other examples -- Text: New Testament papyri in cave 7? -- Qumran words and phrases in the New Testament -- The Sermon on the Mount -- Characters: John the Baptist -- Others -- Practices: Shared property -- The meal -- Calendar -- Eschatology: Messianism -- Biblical interpretation -- Teachings -- Conclusions

7. Controversies about the Dead Sea Scrolls. -- Editing and publishing the scrolls -- Events since 1989.

"The Dead Sea Scrolls Today" is the second edition update to the study of the Dead Seas Scrolls, manuscripts which provide a decidedly different and insightful view of the Bible.

COPYRIGHT NOT covered - Click this link to request copyright permission:

Choice Outstanding Academic Title.