Qumran New Light On The New Testament

"Qumran: New Light on the New Testament" provides a scholarly, yet readable analysis of the Dead Sea Scrolls and how they relate to the formation of the New Testament and the first century Church. The text offers a unique explanation of the early church controversy between Paul, the Jerusalem church and the so-called "judaizers."

The 16 contributions of experts both in the study of the Dead Sea Scrolls and on the study of the New Testament analyze the relationship among the two corpora. Some of the studies propose a general understanding of the relationship, other apply it to concrete topics or texts.

The story of the Dead Sea Scrolls reads like a whodunit novel, full of intrigue and mystery. The intrigue lies in the internecine struggles among scholars entrusted with their study and safekeeping. They mystery lies in just how much they can tell us about biblical times and life in the early Christian church. From 1947 when the first scrolls were discovered in the caves around Qumran, until the mid-eighties when the academic gridlock began to break up, they have left us with many more questions than answers: Who wrote the scrolls? What connection do they have with Jewish sects or early Christianity? And what light do they shed on biblical times and the Bible itself? With the "rediscovery" of the scrolls in recent years, their significance to biblical studies is once again in the spotlight. This book provides to students and lay Christians an overview of the scrolls' controversial history and the various theories scholars hold about them. It is an excellent, readable introduction to who's who and what's what in the study of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

The rediscovery of Enochic Judaism as an ancient movement of dissent within Second Temple Judaism, a movement centered on neither temple nor torah, is a major achievement of contemporary research. After being marginalized, ancient Enoch texts have reemerged as a significant component of the Dead Sea Scrolls library unearthed at Qumran. Enoch and Qumran Origins is the first comprehensive treatment of the complex and forgotten relations between the Qumran community and the Jewish group behind the pseudepigraphal literature of Enoch. The contributors demonstrate that the roots of the Qumran community are to be found in the tradition of the Enoch group rather than that of the Jerusalem priesthood. Framed by Gabriele Boccaccini's introduction and James Charlesworth's conclusion, this book examines the hypotheses of five particularly eminent scholars, resulting in an engaging and substantive discussion among forty-seven specialists from nine countries. The exceptional array of essays from leading international scholars in Second Temple Judaism and Christian origins makes Enoch and Qumran Origins a sine qua non for serious students of this period. Contributors: William Adler Matthias Albani Jeff S. Anderson Albert I. Baumgarten Andreas Bedenbender Stefan Beyerle Gabriele Boccaccini James H. Charlesworth John J. Collins Michael A. Daise James R. Davila Torleif Elgvin Mark A. Elliott Hanan Eshel Peter W. Flint Ida Fröhlich Florentino Garca Martnez Claudio Gianotto Lester L. Grabbe Ithamar Gruenwald Charlotte Hempel Matthias Henze Martha Himmelfarb Michael A. Knibb Klaus Koch Helge S. Kvanvig Armin Lange Erik W. Larson Timothy H. Lim Corrado Martone George W. E. Nickelsburg Pierluigi Piovanelli Émile Puech Annette Yoshiko Reed John C. Reeves Henry W. Morisada Rietz Paolo Sacchi Lawrence H. Schiffman Loren T. Stuckenbruck David W. Suter Shemaryahu Talmon Eibert J. C. Tigchelaar Patrick Tiller Liliana Rosso Ubigli James C. VanderKam Jacques van Ruiten Benjamin G. Wright III

Back cover: How did the Qumran discoveries change New Testament scholarship? What are the main insights to be gained from the Qumran corpus with regard to the Jesus tradition, Paul's language and theology, the dualistic language and worldview of the Fourth Gospel, or the formation of the biblical Canon? The articles of this volume present the fruits of 25 years of scholarship on Qumran and the New Testament.

Dr. Norman Golb's classic study on the origin of the Dead Sea Scrolls is now available online. Since their earliest discovery in 1947, the Scrolls have been the object of fascination and extreme controversy. Challenging traditional dogma, Golb has been the leading proponent of the view that the Scrolls cannot be the work of a small, desert-dwelling fringe sect, as various earlier scholars had claimed, but are in all likelihood the remains of libraries of various Jewish groups, smuggled out of Jerusalem and hidden in desert caves during the Roman siege of 70 A. D. Contributing to the enduring debate sparked by the book's original publication in 1995, this digital edition contains additional material reporting on new developments that have led a series of major Israeli and European archaeologists to support Golb's basic conclusions. In its second half, the book offers a detailed analysis of the workings of the scholarly monopoly that controlled the Scrolls for many years, and discusses Golb's role in the struggle to make the texts available to the public. Pleading for an end to academic politics and a commitment to the search for truth in scrolls scholarship, Who Wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls? sets a new standard for studies in intertestamental history "This book is 'must reading'.... It demonstrates how a particular interpretation of an ancient site and particular readings of ancient documents became a straitjacket for subsequent discussion of what is arguably the most widely publicized set of discoveries in the history of biblical archaeology...." Dr. Gregory T. Armstrong, 'Church History' Golb "gives us much more than just a fresh and convincing interpretation of the origin and significance of the Qumran Scrolls. His book is also... a fascinating case-study of how an idee fixe, for which there is no real historical justification, has for over 40 years dominated an elite coterie of scholars controlling the Scrolls...." Daniel O'Hara, 'New Humanist'

Professor Brooke is at the forefront of research on the Dead Sea Scrolls and here he offers a wealth of knowledge and subtle analysis. This book sheds light on the first-century world shared by the Qumran community and the writers of the New Testament.