The Dead Sea Scrolls: A Reappraisal

by John Marco Allegro

/ 014020376 / Bible study / Engels / English / Anglais / Englisch / Pocket / Poche / Taschenbuch / 12 x 19 cm / 206 .pp /

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Academic, Theology

208 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1956

About the author

John Marco Allegro was a scholar who challenged orthodox views of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Bible and the history of religion, with books that attracted popular attention and scholarly derision.

After service in the Royal Navy during World War II, Allegro started to train for the Methodist ministry but transferred to a degree in Oriental Studies at the University of Manchester. In 1953 he was invited to become the first British representative on the international team working on the recently discovered Dead Sea Scrolls in Jordan. The following year he was appointed assistant lecturer in Comparative Semitic Philology at Manchester, and held a succession of lectureships there until he resigned in 1970 to become a full-time writer. In 1961 he was made Honorary Adviser on the Dead Sea Scrolls to the Jordanian government.

Allegro's thirteen books include The Dead Sea Scrolls (1956), The Treasure of the Copper Scroll (1960), The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross (1970) and The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Christian Myth (1979) as well as Discoveries in the Judaean Desert of Jordan vol. V (1968) and articles in academic journals such as the Journal of Biblical Literature, Palestine Exploration Quarterly and Journal of Semitic Studies, and in the popular press.

Reviews

[Kristopher Swinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This makes a very good “popular account,” with one subtle flaw. While speaking of a deplorable lack of objectivity in approaching the Dead Sea Scrolls (12, 173-174), Allegro himself seems to have already reappraised Christianity in the light of his own understanding (as with the tired old line that Paul’s accretions created Christianity, on 170-171, or the simply false notion, on 162, that evidence is self-contradictory about whether Jesus intended the gospel message for the non-Jewish world), something he does not spring on the reader until he has lulled them to sleep with his amiable manner. His eventual remark on what he regards as “New Testament myths” (178) was a long time in coming. (Note his usage of quotation marks, much as one would use one’s fingers in derision, twice on 148.) He is very cynical, in the typical higher critic fashion, in insisting that Biblical writers reworked their story to fit ancient prophecy for messianic expectation (104, 152-153, 175)—he seems to have no idea what facts may be accepted about Jesus (109), though he is loathe to discard them altogether. He rests his case petulantly on the impossibility of arriving at an objective account about Jesus, even alleging that Jesus can never be understood in context (174-176).

Brigham Young commented on the paradox that no intelligent person could give a “disinterested” account of such an important matter. Heber J. Grant similarly stated in many forms that if there’s anything to the gospel, there’s everything to it. Or, as Paul Little put it:

Another erroneous idea . . . is that the miracle stories must be discarded because they are told by believing disciples and are therefore not “objective.” But the disciples were the ones on the scene who saw the miracles. The fact that they were disciples is neither here nor there. The question is, Did they tell the truth? As we have seen, eyewitness testimony is the best we can get, and most of the disciples faced the test of death as the test of their veracity. We would not today, in a court of law, say that in order to guarantee objectivity on the part of witnesses, we will listen only to those who were not at the scene of an accident and had nothing to do with it. Nor would we say we would not take testimony from eyewitnesses, including the victims, because they would be “prejudiced.” The crucial question in each case is truthfulness, not proximity or relationship to the events. (Know Why You Believe [Wheaton, Illinois: Scripture Press Publications, Inc., 1968], 124-125; I won’t trouble you with C.S. Lewis’ magnificent coverage of the matter)

Allegro gives a fine admission that “the standard text of our Bible is certainly very old and very reliable,” though “not . . . without some scribal errors and ‘adjustment’” (80). It’s interesting that he early on notes there is no cause for dramatic changes to translation (83). If duly watchful, we can share the sheer enthusiasm in the world of textual criticism with extending certain source manuscripts, or useful reference points, back more than a thousand years (61-62, 64-65). This offers astonishing vindication of the Samaritan Pentateuch (77) and Justin’s statements on adherence to the Septuagint (190); it sheds intriguing light on the Masoretic received text and The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs.

Naturally, his bias—if not conventional Christianity’s skewed focus alone—makes the theological comparison section a tad painful in its overreaching (171, 173). His alleged connections are not always that astounding or accurate (148, 160), but it’s not like he’s spiritually astute, anyway. Yet his historical account is absorbing and romantic. His slick praise of the Jordanian government is unsurprising, considering their patronage, but I am surprised by his accommodating attitude toward the Ta’amireh Bedouin manipulation of the scroll discoveries (45) and “Kando”’s outlandish black market dealings. Then he turns surprisingly impolitic on another group on 188. However, as for the parts of interest, one is easily caught up in the dismay as ancient documents are reduced to heaps of glue, the admiration of the high-quality ink on the parchment, and the creative frenzy of a team of scholars tackling bona fide encoded writings (57-58)! As always, I like seeing patterns that never change through the currents of history, like the calendar controversy between the Essenes and others (128-130), reminiscent of that between the Celtic and Roman churches, and the Maccabbean Jews and Essenes (130, 154) being attacked on a holy day, reminiscent of the Yom Kippur War of 1973.

All told, a worthwhile read for the cautious student. I wouldn’t recommend it as an introduction to the subject.

[Ondřej]

Pro Jordana:
Kumránci byli zřejmě součástí širšího hnutí esejců, jejichž věrouka a rituály byly v něčem (formálně i obsahově) podivuhodně podobné učení a vystupování Ježíše Krista (v lecčem ale zase neslučitelně odlišné).
Důležitou součástí nálezů jsou starozákonní texty s odlišným zněním než tím, které má sjednocená masoretská tradice, na které je založená i moderní křesťanská Bible. Kumránské biblické texty se totiž v mnoha místech (ale ne vždy) shodují se Septuagintou, o které se soudilo, že je založená na jiné, starší tradici, a to se zdá být tímto potvrzené.

Příklad, kde se pozdější tradice zdá být usměrněná podle novějších teologických zásad. – část Mojžíšovy písně v Deuteronomiu 32.43:
Kumrán: Rejoice, O ye heavens, with him and all ye gods worship him.
LXX: Rejoice, O ye heavens, with him and let all the angels of God worship him; Rejoice, O ye nations with his people, and let all the sons of God accord him strength.
Masoretský text: Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people.

Zajímavá je taky astrologická nauka Kumránců: Lidská duše se skládá z devíti dílů, které jsou pod vlivem působení nebeských těles v době narození namíchané v různých poměrech mezi nebeským a pekelným duchem. (Mesiáš by měl 9:0.) V jakém poměru má daný člověk duši namíchanou, určuje i jeho tělesnou podobu. Z hvězd by se tedy mělo dát vyčíst, v jakém složení se člověk narodí, případně že se má narodit mesiáš, což možná trochu dokresluje podivnou astrologickou vsuvku o mudrcích, kteří se z hvězd dověděli o narození krále. (Autor knihy obecně rád kritizuje Matoušovo evangelium, hlavně co se týče zacházení se SZ.)

Kumránci navíc očekávali mesiáše dva, Davidovského válečníka a Áronovského kněze, což je zřejmě založené na oddělení těchto dvou rolí v dějinách izraelského státu. Proti této myšlence se snad staví autor Listu Židům, když se snaží čtenáře přesvědčit, že mesiáš, kterým byl Ježíš, není jen králem, ale zahrnuje v sobě i roli kněze, a to dokonce podle vyššího řádu než Áronova, totiž podle Melkísedeka.

[Roberta · Rating 4 out of 5]

An exciting account of the discovery, collection, translation and interpretation of the Dead Sea Scrolls, written by one of the men who was there and translating. The collection was in no way made easier by the fact that most of the scrolls were in minuscule pieces and some of the Bedouins might have been ripping them further to make larger sums of money from them. The difficulty of the job is never played up by the author, who focuses on describing the importance of the discovery and where it fits in with current academic knowledge, rather than on the immense difficulty of collecting, sorting and translating the oldest scrolls that had ever been seen by the specialists, and understanding the culture they had come from and how they fit into what was already known about the region, the writing of the Bible, and the history of the tribes involved.

[Steven H · Rating 5 out of 5]

AN “EARLY” SUMMARY (FOR A “POPULAR” AUDIENCE) OF THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS, AND THEIR IMPACT

John Marco Allegro (1923-1988) was a British archaeologist and Dead Sea Scrolls scholar; his (relatively) swift publication [The Treasure of the Copper Scroll'] of the Scrolls material he was assigned was in marked contrast to the delays and stalling of publication of much of the other Scrolls material. His 1970 book 'The Sacred Mushroom & the Cross' postulated that "Jesus" in the gospels was simply a code word for a psychedelic mushroom used by an ancient fertility cult; the lack of evidence presented in the book effectively ended his scholarly career. He simply assumed the "truth" of his thesis in his subsequent books such as 'The End of a Road' and 'The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Christian Myth.'

This 1956 book, however, was published while he was still a respected Scroll scholar. He wrote in the Preface, “The following chapters make no claim to being an exhaustive study of the fabulous documentary and archaeological material from the Dead Sea; such would be quite outside the scope of a concise, popular volume. It does attempt to give to the general public come conception of the extent and importance of recent discoveries in this area, and I hope in a perspective made possible by a study of the published and unpublished material alike.”

He notes, “Excitement had run high among scholars when it became known in 1948 that a cave near the Dead Sea had produced pre-Massoretic texts of the Bible. Was it possible that we were at last going to see traditions differing seriously from the standard text, which would throw some important light on this hazy period of variant traditions? In some quarters the question was raised with some apprehension, especially when news-hungry journalists began to talk about changing the whole Bible in view of the latest discoveries, but closer examination showed that, on the whole, the differences shown by the first Isaiah scroll were of little account, and could often be explained on the basis of scribal errors, or differing orthography… The other Isaiah scroll showed an even closer following of the standard text… and there was a great deal of sighing with relief in some quarters, as well as a sense of disappointment in others.” (Pg. 65-66)

He points out, “In the matter of divorce the Covenanters have a similar attitude to that attributed to Jesus in the so-called Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5:31-32). Thus, against the rabbinic custom of allowing divorce freely, the ‘Damascus Document’ condemns ‘marrying two women during their lifetime.’ Like Jesus, too, it quotes as support for this rule Genesis 1:27… Indeed, in the scrolls we have already Jesus’ extension of the biblical law against adultery to the lustful glance that precedes the act itself (Matt 5:27-28). Thus we read of ‘lusting after the eyes,’ and of ‘the stubbornness of a sinful heart and eyes of lust,’ to which may well be compared the words of Jesus…” (Pg. 114)

He observes, “The Qumran scrolls reserve their bitterest denunciations, as did John the Baptist and Jesus, for the spiritual leaders in Jerusalem. In their eyes the orthodox priesthood had betrayed the flocks committed to their care, leading them into false ways and defiling the Temple and its rituals with unlawful practices.” (Pg. 127-128)

He asserts, “Just as the Qumran expositors dissect the recorded words of the prophet Habakkuk to seek their references to their Teacher living some five centuries later, so for instance Matthew delights in producing Old Testament texts to support the messianic claims he makes for his Master. Too often he merely succeeds in the eyes of the critic in casting doubt on the historicity of the events he records. They savor too much of being merely projections of current expectations based on this prognosticatory use of Scripture.” (Pg. 148-149)

He concludes about John the Baptist, “for all the similarities in their respective teachings, John was clearly at this time not of the Qumran Community. His mixing with the common man and thus separation from the ‘Purity of the Many’ would make his continued membership of the Community impossible. Theirs was no evangelistic call to mankind, but an esoteric Community of the Elect. Whilst others would join, it was only after a rigorous period of self-denial and probation. It does appear, however, that John may have belonged to the Essene movement, and correspondences with Qumran doctrine could easily be explained on the basis of their possessing many ideas and documents which were common to the Essene Sect as a whole… As the son of a priest he would have been welcomed by such a Community and probably marked out for a leading role in the Sect. When we meet him he is no longer a member, which may suggest expulsion, or voluntary resignation, perhaps when he received this overwhelming conviction of the need to take his message to the common people.” (Pg. 158-159)

This is a fascinating, insightful volume---that makes this reviewer firmly wish that Allegro had stuck to “mainstream” scholarship, instead of going off into speculative theories of drug cults, etc.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Essentially a brief background on the discovery, procurement, and study of the Dead Sea Scrolls followed by the constructed narrative and context surrounding the Qumran community that likely wrote and studied them. Of note were Allegro's attempts at drawing parallels between the scrolls and John the Baptist, Jesus, and early Christians in one chapter, despite in the final chapter claiming that it is too early to draw parallels between the scrolls and John the Baptist, etc., etc. Although there is a noticeable tinge of disdain for Jews and, particularly, Christians in his writing, it is still an excellent book about the history of the scrolls themselves.

[Dallas Robertson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think I’ve owned this book since the early 1980s, and it’s travelled the world more than most people. I started reading it in about 1999, and 22 years later can finally declare that I’ve read it cover-to-cover (after a 20 year hiatus!). So my verdict: a well-written account covering more than just a brief history of the Dead Sea Scrolls find. It details the Essenes, their sectarian beliefs, and how they influenced both Judaism and Christianity. Some parts were almost too dry to enjoy, but overall I learnt a lot from this well-written book.

[Rachel Grepke · Rating 2 out of 5]

First of all, anytime there is excavation for archeological finds, it is way cool! The author expelled the finding process of the scrolls well. Other than that, it is quite easy to get lost in this book, and I do not mean that in a good way. There are somethings that are over explained and others not explained enough. One good bonus was the maps and pictures included to help you piece it all together.

[Matthew Marks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stumbled across an original from 1956 in a book store real cheap. Swagged it. Really good read. Thorough account of the discovery, purchase and restoration of the scrolls. I understand the author went on to make further conclusions about Christianity due to his work. I've got one of his other books lined up to find out.

[Spag · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved it. I know very little about this period of history or the obscurities of sect life within Judaism under occupation, but this seems like a delightful introduction to me. Popped my brain every so often, especially in relation to John The Baptist's possible early life-trajectory.

[Justin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Keeping up with the real Indiana Joneses.

[Charlie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting read. I imagine those of a particularly Christian nature will....find some of his attitudes, uncomfortable.

[Michael Joosten · Rating 3 out of 5]

Allegro's The Dead Sea Scrolls is a little uneven, listing from a thrilling account of the scrolls' discovery to a solid historical account of the 1st Century history out of which them emerge to rather dry, quotation-full looks at their contents and the parallels they have with early Christian writings. Allegro's strength is his deep, personal knowledge of his subject; this is a man who knows the individuals involved.

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating. Intriguing. Exciting. Helpful for understanding Biblical translation(s). Historical. Helpful for understanding what the Dead Sea Scrolls were about, and why they are so important to Biblical authenticity, accuracy, and historicity.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

B interesting if now somewhat dated.

[Edward Zitvogel · Rating 3 out of 5]

E-30.00/1.00 (110225)