Biblical Perspectives Early Use And Interpretation Of The Bible In Light Of The Dead Sea Scrolls

This volume explores the contribution of the Dead Sea Scrolls to understanding the use and interpretation of the Bible among different groups in antiquity; the Qumran sectari-ans and their opponents, early Christians and the rabbinic Sages.

This volume explores the use and interpretation of the Bible in the Dead Sea Scrolls and associated apocryphal, early Christian and rabbinic literature. Interpretive interests, techniques and traditions are examined in many types of ancient works: rewritten bibles, pseudepigrapha, legal codes, prayers, sapiential texts, admonitions and historical treatises. The authors highlight the contribution of the new finds from the Judean Desert to such major issues as attitudes to the Bible and the Law in antiquity, continuity and innovation vis a vis the biblical world, common and unique dimensions of interpretation among different groups in the Second Temple and Rabbinic periods in particular, the Qumran sectarians and their opponents, New Testament authors and rabbinic Sages.

Until recently, most non-biblical manuscripts attested in the Qumran library were regarded as copies of texts that were composed after the books of the Hebrew Bible were written. Students of the Hebrew Bible found the Dead Sea Scrolls therefore mostly of interest for the textual and interpretative histories of these books. The present collection confirms the importance of the Dead Sea Scrolls for both areas, by showing that they have revolutionized our understanding of how the text of the biblical books developed and how they were interpreted. Beyond the textual and interpretative histories, though, many texts attested in the Qumran library illuminate the time in which the later books of the Hebrew Bible were composed and reworked as well as Jewish life and law in the time when the canon of the Hebrew Bible developed. This volume gives important examples as to how the early texts attested in the Dead Sea Scrolls help to better understand individual biblical books and as to how the later texts among them illustrate Jewish life and law when the canon of the Hebrew Bible evolved. In order to find an adequate expertise for the seminar »The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Hebrew Bible«, the editors invited both junior and senior specialists in the fields of Hebrew Bible, Second Temple Judaism, Dead Sea Scrolls and Rabbinics to Rome.

This book contains an exhaustive survey of past and present Qumran research, outlining its particular development in various circumstances and national contexts. For the first time, perspectives and information not recorded in any other publication are highlighted.

This book originates from a series of conferences held by the Nordic Qumran Network, established 2003. The volume includes some of the best contributions presented at the four symposia held in Helsinki 2003, Oslo 2004, Jerusalem 2005, and Copenhagen 2006.

This book examines the interpretation of biblical law in the Dead Sea Scrolls and ancient Judaism. It analyzes the interpretive techniques found in the Dead Sea Scrolls to transform the meaning and application of biblical law to meet the needs of new historical and cultural settings.

This volume contains the proceedings of the international conference held at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem in July 2008 in honor of the 60th anniversary of the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Tukasi explores the theme of the determinism as articulated in the Rule of the Community and the Fourth Gospel with the aim of uncovering the relevance of petitionary prayer within the framework of the determinism of each book. Chapter one sets out the background against which the themes of determinism and petition in 1QS and John should be understood. Chapter two explores the nature of the determinism in the 1QS. The determinism is cosmological, soteriological, and eschatological. Chapter three demonstrates that the contents of the petitions are in harmony with the determinism articulated in 1QS. In our study of the Fourth Gospel, chapter four demonstrates that the determinism in John is concerned with the predestination of certain people who are designated as "the given ones" of the Father. It also shows that the determinism of the Fourth Gospel is concerned with the mission of the Son. Chapter five analyzes the petitions in John against the background of Johannine determinism. It argues that the petitions are shaped by the determinism articulated in the text. The conclusion sums up the similarities and differences between John and 1QS in their expression of determinism and petitionary prayer, and draws attention to the implications on previous and future scholarship on the relationship between John and the Scrolls.