by Veracity O'Madden
A wee bit of an introduction -
The Dead Sea Scrolls are parchment and papyrus scrolls and fragments of scrolls discovered between 1947 and 1956 at several sites along the northwest shore of the Dead Sea. The initial discovery was by a young Bedouin boy who was chasing a goat. The discovery of these scrolls was a major find that has impacted several fields of study. These include archaeology, biblical studies, theology, paleography, literature, and history. For a major portion of the time since their discovery, the texts (and copies and facsimiles of the texts) of the Dead Sea Scrolls have been closed to a major portion of the scholastic community by the group of scholars initially charged with preserving, collating, and indexing them. Recent efforts by the Biblical Archaeological Society and others have made the texts of the Dead Sea Scrolls widely available to both the scholastic community and the general public for investigation and study.
Below you will find specific sources of information on the various aspects of the materials found in the Qumran caves. The list is divided into various topics, ranging from general information to the interpretation of the texts. Necessarily, some items of interest to one subject will contain information important to another and so some items may be listed more than once.
Topics Explored
Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible. Merrill C. Tenney, general editor. Ref. BS 440.Z63 v.2.
This contains a good introductory article that contains information concerning the discovery of the documents. It also contains information about many of the documents and their importance to the various scholarly fields.
Anchor Bible Dictionary. David Noel Freeman, editor in chief. Ref. BS 440.A54 1992, v.2.
This contains a very extensive (17 pages) and thorough signed article that will serve as a good introduction to the DSS. It contains the discovery, extent, and interpretation of the Qumran texts. It also contains a fairly extensive bibliography.
Harper Collins Bible Dictionary. Paul J. Achtemeier, general editor. BS 440.H235
This has a good article on the DSS, especially as they apply to investigative scholarship and applications to Christian, Judaic, and textual studies.
Hershel Shanks, Joseph A. Fitzmeyer, eds., Biblical Archaeology Review, Understanding the Dead Sea Scrolls (New York: Biblical Archaeology Review, 1992).
This is a good introduction to the Qumran materials by two individuals who are very concerned with the texts and their dissemination.
Everyone agrees about the importance of the Dead Sea Scrolls but there was a disagreement about when they should be released for publication. The original team that had been tasked with the organization, preservation, and publication of the Qumran materials took a very studied approach, not wanting to publish anything until all aspects of an item had been gone over and evaluated. This resulted in a very long delay (upwards of 40 years) before materials found their way to the general scholastic release. In fact, it was due to some shenanigans (to use a Gaelic technical term) on the part of several different individuals and groups (most notably the Biblical Archaeological Society) that resulted in the release of facsimiles and photographic plates of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Below you will find various works that touch on different aspects and details of this important part of the history of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Michael Wise, Martin Abegg, Jr., & Edward Cook, The Dead Sea Scrolls: a new translation (San Francisco: Harper San Francisco, 1996).
This recent publications serves several purposes. Firstly, its Prolegomena gives an excellent introduction to all aspects of the DSS, including details about their discovery and the team first assigned to evaluate and publish them and the fight to get them widespread publication. It also covers various aspects and theories of the production of the texts and their producers and the site near which they were found. Secondly, and more importantly, this work contains an English translation of a major portion (perhaps all but the Isaiah scroll) of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Additionally it contains an excellent and up to date bibliography.
Shenhav, Dodo J "Saving the Dead Sea Scrolls for the next 2000 years: preservation in the Qumran caves was easier than in a museum atmosphere [photos]" Biblical Archaeology Review 7 No 4:44-49 Jl-Ag 1981.
Shanks, Hershel "Israeli authorities now responsible for delay in publication of Dead Sea Scrolls" Biblical Archaeology Review 11 No 5:71-72 S-O 1985.
Shanks, Hershel "What should be done about the unpublished Dead Sea Scrolls?" Biblical Archaeology Review 15 no 5:20-22 1989.
Shanks, Hershel, "Dead Sea Scrolls update" Biblical Archaeology Review 16 no 4:44-49 1990.
Contents: Scroll editors spurn 100,000-dollar offer to publish book of photographs. The Dead Sea Scroll monopoly must be broken. Israeli oversight committee takes charge. Cross and Milik fail to meet deadline. A visit with M Jozef T Milik, Dead Sea Scroll editor, by J A Fitzmyer.
Shanks, Hershel, "Dead Sea Scrolls update" Biblical Archaeology Review 17:64-70,72 Ja-F 1991.
Contents: Chief Dead Sea Scroll editor denounces Judaism, Israel; claims he's seen four more scrolls found by Bedouin, by A Katzman. John Strugnell: for the man, compassion; for his views, contempt, by H Shanks. Strugnell and Israeli committee struggle for control of unpublished Dead Sea Scrolls. Strugnell calls leading scroll scholar "incompetent". VanderKam reneges.
Shanks, Hershel "Is the Vatican suppressing the Dead Sea Scrolls? [critique of The Dead Sea Scroll deception, by M Baigent and R Leigh, 1991]" Biblical Archaeology Review 17:66-71 N-D 1991.
Shanks, Hershel "Blood on the Floor at New York Dead Sea Scroll Conference: Qumran Scriptorium Reinterpreted as a Dining Room [D 14-17 1992; controversy surrounding The Dead Sea Scrolls Uncovered, by R H Eisenman and M O Wise; texts of letters and statements, pp 66-67; pors]" Biblical Archaeology Review 19:63-68 Mr-Ap 1993.
This listing contains some older lists that have been updated by more recent publications but which serve a useful purpose in the history of the release of the texts and materials
Sanders, J. A., "Palestinian Manuscripts 1947-67," Journal of Biblical Literature (1967) 431-40.
Florentino Garcia Martinez, The Dead Sea Scrolls Translated: The Qumran Texts in English, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 1996).
Müller, K., "Die Handschriften und Editionen der ausserbiblischen Qumranliteratur," Einführung in the Methoden der bibblischen Exegese (ed. J. Schreiner; Würzburg: Echter Verlag, 1971) 303-10.
García Martínez, F., "Lista de mss procendentes de Qumran," Henoch 11 (1989) 149-232.
This contains a list that includes materials from cave 4 that were known to exist but had not yet been published.
The ability to study and evaluate the materials of the Dead Sea Scrolls depends on the ability of the scholar to get to the materials themselves of reasonable and clear facsimiles of the originals. Below is listed the more important items available to most serious scholars.
The Dead Sea Scrolls on Microfiche: a comprehensive Facsimile Edition of the Texts from the Judean Desert. Emanuel Tov, editor. . Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1993.
On October 27, 1991, the Israel Antiquities Authority decided to make all of the photographs found in the Dead Sea caves and other sites in the desert of Judea available to the public. This is the most recent and complete presentation of the materials found in the Dead Sea caves for investigation. The microfiche set includes two "Companion Volumes" that serve to give detailed information concerning the discovery and preservation of the texts and fragments found in Qumran. The "Companion Volumes" contains list of the Qumran fragments by cave and by date photographed. It also gives detailed information of the history of the texts.
A Facsimile Edition of the Dead Sea Scrolls: prepared with an Introduction and Index Eisenman, Robert H. and Robinson, James M. , 2 vols.
The Biblical Archaeology Society has been instrumental in getting the materials of the DSS to the scholastic community. This work contains photographs of a major portion of the Qumran texts and fragments. The introduction discusses some of the problems of getting the materials made available. However, the index merely links the plates of photographs with its PAM (Palestine Archaeological Museum) number. It is best used in conjunction with the indices in The Dead Sea Scrolls on Microfiche: a comprehensive Facsimile Edition of the Texts from the Judean Desert. and The Dead Sea Scrolls: Major Publications and tools for Study. Washington D.C.: Biblical Archaeology Society, 1991.
The Dead Sea Scrolls: Major Publications and tools for Study. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1990. Joseph A. Fitzmeyer.
Though this does not contain facsimiles of the DSSs, this work is best used in conjunction with the items above to locate scrolls and fragments. This is an excellent work that gives an extensive bibliography (to 1990) of major works concerning the DSS. More importantly, it contains a listing of the biblical passages that are represented in the Qumran material. As such, it serves as a valuable research tool in its own right whereby one may look up a biblical passage and see if it is represented by the known DSS fragments and, using the other tools, find and evaluate the fragments themselves.
A major aspect of the importance of the Dead Sea Scrolls is its contribution to the field of palaeography, the study of ancient writing styles and forms and orthography, the study of the forms of words and their spellings. The Dead Sea Scrolls represent that largest corpus of ancient Hebrew writing in existence and seriously pushes back the time that can be considered and evaluated for ancient writing. As such, these materials are extremely important to the field of ancient Hebrew writing and spelling systems.
N. Avigad, "The Palaeography of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Related Documents," Aspects of the Dead Sea Scrolls (Scripta hierosolymitana 4; Jerusalem: Magnes, 1958), 56-87.
F. M. Cross, "The Development of the Jewish Scripts," The Bible and the Ancient Near East: Essays in Honor of William Foxwell Albright (Anchor Books A431; Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1965), 170-264.
R. S. Hanson, "Paleo-Hebrew Scripts in the Hasmonean Age," Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 175 (1964), 26-42.
Florentino Garcia Martinez, The Dead Sea Scrolls Translated: The Qumran Texts in English, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 1996).
This is a useful tool in that it is a recent English translation of all of the non-biblical Qumran materials. It is divided into 1) Rules 2) Halakhic Texts 3) Literature with Eschatological Content 4) Exegetical Literature 5) Para-Biblical Literature 6) Poetic Texts 7) Liturgical Texts 8) The Copper Scroll. It also contains a list of "all the manuscripts which come from the various caves of Qumran and about which information is a present available."
Michael Wise, Martin Abegg, Jr., & Edward Cook, The Dead Sea Scrolls: a new translation (San Francisco: Harper San Francisco, 1996).
This recent publications serves several purposes. Firstly, its Prolegomena gives an excellent introduction to all aspects of the DSS, including details about their discovery and the team first assigned to evaluate and publish them and the fight to get them widespread publication. It also covers various aspects and theories of the production of the texts and their producers and the site near which they were found. Secondly, and more importantly, this work contains an English translation of a major portion (perhaps all but the Isaiah scroll) of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Additionally it contains an excellent and up to date bibliography.
The result of much of the evaluation of the texts concerning palaeography, orthography, and exegesis of the texts is the interpretation made concerning the meaning of the various texts, biblical and non-biblical. Questions such as what use was made of biblical texts, what interpretations were given to them, and what is the meaning and the theology of the extra-biblical materials found at the Qumran site are hermeneutical issues that need to be addressed.
G. W. E. Nickelsburg, Resurrection, Immortality and Eternal Life in Intertestamental Judaism (Cambridge: Harvard University, 1972).
F. N"tscher, Zur theologischen Terminologie der Qumran-Texte (Bonn: Hanstein, 1956).
H. Ringgren, The Faith of Qumran: Theology of the Dead Sea Scrolls, trans. E. T. Sander (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1963).
These are journals either devoted entirely to the study and evaluation of the Dead Sea Scrolls or that include a fair number of scholastic articles that address the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Dead Sea Discoveries A journal of current research on the scrolls and related literature (Text in English) 1994. 3/yr. E.J. Brill.
Publishes original research arising from the recent release of photographs of the previously unpublished Dead Sea Scrolls, and discusses the significance of the Qumran finds for the study of Palestinian Judaism and the history and ideas of early Christianity.
Revue de Qumran (Text in English, French, German, Italian, Latin, Spanish)
Examines the Dead Sea Scrolls. Text in English, French, German, Italian, Latin, Spanish. Publishes original research arising from the recent release of photographs of the previously unpublished Dead Sea Scrolls, and discusses the significance of the Qumran finds for the study of Palestinian Judaism and the history and ideas of early Christianity.
Journal of Biblical Literature. A quarterly publication of the Society of Biblical Literature.
Publishes primarily in English. While not devoted exclusively to the DSS, the JBL does publish many articles dealing with the various aspects of the DSS and subjects closely related to them.
Other Web Sites for the Dead Sea Scrolls
Dead Sea Scrolls Introduction (University of North Carolina)
"The exhibition Scrolls From the Dead Sea: The Ancient Library of Qumran and Modern Scholarship brings before the American people a selection from the scrolls which have been the subject of intense public interest. Over the years questions have been raised about the scrolls' authenticity, about the people who hid them away, about the period in which they lived, about the secrets the scrolls reveal, and about the intentions of the scrolls' custodians in restricting access. The Library's exhibition describes the historical context of the scrolls and the Qumran community from whence they may have originated; it also relates the story of their discovery 2,000 years later. In addition, the exhibition encourages a better understanding of the challenges and complexities connected with scroll research."
Dead Sea Scrolls Orion
"The Orion Center for the study of the Dead Sea Scrolls is home to the most up to date information about the research of the Scrolls. To assist in gaining information about the Scrolls we have created a list of Museums and Sites in Israel at which academics, students, and laymen can gain a further understanding of the historical context in which the scrolls were produced."