Synopses & Reviews
With the full publication of the Dead Sea Scrolls come major changes in our understanding of these fascinating texts and their significance for the study of the history of Judaism and Christianity. One of the most significant changes that one cannot study Qumran without Jerusalem nor Jerusalem without Qumran is explored in this important volume. / Although the Scrolls preserve the peculiar ideology of the Qumran sect, much of the material also represents the common beliefs and practices of the Judaism of the time. Here Lawrence Schiffman mines these incredible documents to reveal their significance for the reconstruction of the history of Judaism. His investigation brings to life a period of immense significance for the history of the Western world.
Synopsis
Meeting a need for quality English-language resources on the Dead Sea Scrolls, this series makes available to readers at all levels the best of current Dead Sea Scrolls research, showing how the Scrolls impact our understanding of the Bible, Judaism, and Christianity. Book jacket.
Table of Contents
Introduction: The Qumran scrolls and rabbinic Judaism -- The scholarly controversy. The many "battles of the scrolls" -- Literary genres and languages of the Judean scrolls -- Halakhah and history : the contribution of the Dead Sea scrolls to recent scholarship -- History, politics, and the formation of the sect. Community without temple : the Qumran community's withdrawal from the Jerusalem Temple -- Political leadership and organization in the Dead Sea scrolls community -- The new halakhic letter (4QMMT) and the origins of the Dead Sea sect -- The place of 4QMMT in the corpus of Qumran manuscripts -- Jewish law at Qumran. Legal texts in the Dead Sea scrolls -- Codification of Jewish law in the Dead Sea scrolls -- Pre-Maccabean halakhah in the Dead Sea scrolls and the biblical tradition -- Contemporizing halakhic exegesis in the Dead Sea scrolls -- Halakhic elements in 4QInstruction -- Religious outlook of the Qumran sectarians. The early history of Jewish liturgy and the Dead Sea scrolls -- The concept of covenant in the Qumran scrolls and rabbinic literature -- Holiness and sanctity in the Dead Sea scrolls -- Messianic figures and ideas in the Qumran scrolls -- The concept of restoration in the Dead Sea scrolls -- Jeruslame in the Dead Sea scrolls -- Qumran sectarians and others. The Pharisees and their legal traditions according to the Dead Sea scrolls -- Pharisees and Sadducees in Pesher Nahum -- Inter- or intra-Jewish conflict? : the Judaism of the Dead Sea scrolls community and its opponents -- Non-Jews in the Dead Sea scrolls -- Language and literature. Pseudepigrapha in the Pseudepigrapha : mythical books in Second Temple literature -- Second Temple literature and the Cairo Genizah -- Inverting reality : the Dead Sea scrolls in the popular media.