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The Dead Sea Scrolls Today
A summary of the story of the Dead Sea scrolls and what has happened to them since the mid-1980s. The author - who is a member of the team charged with translating the scrolls - covers their discovery, examines their nature, explains their chronology and explores their literary character.
208 pages, Paperback
First published May 16, 1994
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
December 3, 2014
James C. VanderKam, The Dead Sea Scrolls Today, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2010). Paperback / Kindle
One of the greatest—if not the greatest—archaeological discoveries of the twentieth century was the finding of the Dead Sea Scrolls. These scrolls opened new windows onto the world of Second Temple Judaism, especially the theology and practices of the Essene community. Unfortunately, they also spawned an entire industry of conspiracy thinking and pseudo-scholarship that distorts popular understanding of the scrolls even to the present day.
The great merit of James C. VanderKam’s The Dead Sea Scrolls Today is that it lays out an intellectually responsible view of the scrolls in lucid prose for an informed, popular audience. Successive chapters describe the finding of the scrolls, the variety of manuscripts discovered, why the Qumran community was Essene, the theology and practice of the Qumran community, and the relationship of the scrolls to the Old Testament and the New Testament. A final chapter outlines the major controversies about the publication of the scrolls, providing a non-conspiratorial explanation for the delay in publication of some of them. Throughout, VanderKam’s presentation of the material is fair-minded and its organization logical and easy to follow.
If you know nothing about the Dead Sea Scrolls, I highly recommend starting with this book. It is an indispensable introduction to a topic that has great significance, not only for Jews and Christians, but also for anyone fascinated by the history of the ancient world.
P.S. If you found my review helpful, please vote “Yes” on my Amazon.com review page.
One of the greatest—if not the greatest—archaeological discoveries of the twentieth century was the finding of the Dead Sea Scrolls. These scrolls opened new windows onto the world of Second Temple Judaism, especially the theology and practices of the Essene community. Unfortunately, they also spawned an entire industry of conspiracy thinking and pseudo-scholarship that distorts popular understanding of the scrolls even to the present day.
The great merit of James C. VanderKam’s The Dead Sea Scrolls Today is that it lays out an intellectually responsible view of the scrolls in lucid prose for an informed, popular audience. Successive chapters describe the finding of the scrolls, the variety of manuscripts discovered, why the Qumran community was Essene, the theology and practice of the Qumran community, and the relationship of the scrolls to the Old Testament and the New Testament. A final chapter outlines the major controversies about the publication of the scrolls, providing a non-conspiratorial explanation for the delay in publication of some of them. Throughout, VanderKam’s presentation of the material is fair-minded and its organization logical and easy to follow.
If you know nothing about the Dead Sea Scrolls, I highly recommend starting with this book. It is an indispensable introduction to a topic that has great significance, not only for Jews and Christians, but also for anyone fascinated by the history of the ancient world.
P.S. If you found my review helpful, please vote “Yes” on my Amazon.com review page.
March 20, 2022
This book is a survey of what was known and theorized about the Dead Sea Scrolls as of 2010, when the 2nd edition, the edition I read and am reviewing, was published. It also appears to be intended for a popular audience; hence, it doesn’t get too technical. Aspects of the Dead Sea Scrolls discussed in the book include:
• The account of the initial discovery of scrolls in a cave by Bedouins and the sale of some of the first manuscripts by an antiquities dealer to a Metropolitan associated with St. Mark’s Monastery in Jerusalem and to the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Once the significance of the find was recognized the Bedouins and archaeologists raced to find more caves with scrolls in them. Ultimately eleven such caves were located. Interestingly enough, in the 8th century, an Arab found scrolls in a cave near Jericho, and Jews from Jerusalem subsequently retrieved Old Testament books along with non-canonical works. It is conceivable that this cache of scrolls was associated with those found in the 20th century, but there is no way to prove it.
• Near the caves in which the scrolls were found were the ruins of the ancient settlement of Qumran. After the discovery of the scrolls, Roland de Vaux of the Ecole Biblique excavated Qumran and the adjacent cemetery, concluding that it was a sectarian settlement that had been occupied by Jews from about 140 BC to 68 AD, when it was destroyed by Romans quelling the Jewish revolt, and then by Roman soldiers for a few years. One strong challenge to his occupation pertains to a hypothetical gap in occupation after an earthquake severely damaged the settlement in 31 BC. de Vaux posited a quarter century hiatus, while Jodie Magness proposes a much shorter gap in her book The Archaeology of Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls, which I have read.
• I was fascinated by the discussion of the dating of the scrolls. There are three main methods. Paleography looks at the shapes of the letters, which can change over time. Carbon-14 dating can be used to determine an age range over which the manuscript material (e.g. papyrus or parchment) might have been produced. A nuclear engineer, I understand the basic concepts of radiometric dating and the stochastic nature of radioactive decay, but I wish Dr. Vanderkam went into more detail regarding accelerator mass spectrometry, which he describes as a refined form of carbon-14 dating. Does it improve the ability to determine the mass fraction of carbon-14 in a carbon sample? At any rate, because radiometric dating necessarily requires destroying a sample, this method of dating was used sparingly. The third form of dating was the use of internal evidence. For example, if an event or a person is mentioned in a scroll, the scroll cannot have been written in advance of the event or person. Dr. Vanderkam includes tables comparing radiometric dates of scrolls with their paleographic dates and comparing radiometric dates to internal dates. It made for a good benchmark.
• The scrolls include various Old Testament books as well as various extra-biblical books, among which were commentaries on Old Testament books. Dr. Vanderkam noted two aspects of these commentaries. First, the commentators assumed that the biblical writer referred to the latter days and not necessarily his own time. Second, the commentators assumed that they were living in the latter days; by consequence, the prophecies were about his own time. So, the commentators’ task was to determine how the prophet’s message addressed his circumstances. What can I say? Some things never change. Similar attitudes are quite common today among Christians, and theologians over the years have predicted, sometimes repeatedly, a specific date for the return of Christ.
To summarize, this is a fascinating survey of the Dead Sea Scrolls that is understandable for the layman and is a good foundation for further study.
• The account of the initial discovery of scrolls in a cave by Bedouins and the sale of some of the first manuscripts by an antiquities dealer to a Metropolitan associated with St. Mark’s Monastery in Jerusalem and to the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Once the significance of the find was recognized the Bedouins and archaeologists raced to find more caves with scrolls in them. Ultimately eleven such caves were located. Interestingly enough, in the 8th century, an Arab found scrolls in a cave near Jericho, and Jews from Jerusalem subsequently retrieved Old Testament books along with non-canonical works. It is conceivable that this cache of scrolls was associated with those found in the 20th century, but there is no way to prove it.
• Near the caves in which the scrolls were found were the ruins of the ancient settlement of Qumran. After the discovery of the scrolls, Roland de Vaux of the Ecole Biblique excavated Qumran and the adjacent cemetery, concluding that it was a sectarian settlement that had been occupied by Jews from about 140 BC to 68 AD, when it was destroyed by Romans quelling the Jewish revolt, and then by Roman soldiers for a few years. One strong challenge to his occupation pertains to a hypothetical gap in occupation after an earthquake severely damaged the settlement in 31 BC. de Vaux posited a quarter century hiatus, while Jodie Magness proposes a much shorter gap in her book The Archaeology of Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls, which I have read.
• I was fascinated by the discussion of the dating of the scrolls. There are three main methods. Paleography looks at the shapes of the letters, which can change over time. Carbon-14 dating can be used to determine an age range over which the manuscript material (e.g. papyrus or parchment) might have been produced. A nuclear engineer, I understand the basic concepts of radiometric dating and the stochastic nature of radioactive decay, but I wish Dr. Vanderkam went into more detail regarding accelerator mass spectrometry, which he describes as a refined form of carbon-14 dating. Does it improve the ability to determine the mass fraction of carbon-14 in a carbon sample? At any rate, because radiometric dating necessarily requires destroying a sample, this method of dating was used sparingly. The third form of dating was the use of internal evidence. For example, if an event or a person is mentioned in a scroll, the scroll cannot have been written in advance of the event or person. Dr. Vanderkam includes tables comparing radiometric dates of scrolls with their paleographic dates and comparing radiometric dates to internal dates. It made for a good benchmark.
• The scrolls include various Old Testament books as well as various extra-biblical books, among which were commentaries on Old Testament books. Dr. Vanderkam noted two aspects of these commentaries. First, the commentators assumed that the biblical writer referred to the latter days and not necessarily his own time. Second, the commentators assumed that they were living in the latter days; by consequence, the prophecies were about his own time. So, the commentators’ task was to determine how the prophet’s message addressed his circumstances. What can I say? Some things never change. Similar attitudes are quite common today among Christians, and theologians over the years have predicted, sometimes repeatedly, a specific date for the return of Christ.
To summarize, this is a fascinating survey of the Dead Sea Scrolls that is understandable for the layman and is a good foundation for further study.
February 16, 2009
An overview of the Dead Sea Scrolls: their origin, history, scholarship, the Qumran community, translation, etc.
October 27, 2010
Very slow reading, but a lot of information.
February 28, 2019
When reading this book (and I had to for a report) it was not until chapter 2 that it started to get interesting in my brain. About half of it was really enjoyable, and the other half was words on a page that are probably beneficial, but over my head unless read slowly and methodically.
This book deserves more than three stars, but not quite worth four stars (I'm going to put four anyway). It's informative, but dry.
I actually like dry books well enough, and so this did not bother me (reason I chose to put four stars rather than three)
The book was meant to be concise and an introduction to the Dead Sea Scrolls of the Qumran community. He did very well making his case, but not a great job showing the other views. He methodically showed why they couldn't be right, but didn't give reasons for their beliefs very well.
This is overall not a problem if it were more than just an introduction, but showing a biased hand early often makes readers hesitant as I was. I wanted to argue but didn't know how. I trust, after reading this book, that he was probably wise in what he believes, but it was a jarring thought while reading.
Also, the epilogue is entertaining, but mostly just about his life. That doesn't really effect anything, but I was hoping for a more exciting conclusion.
This book deserves more than three stars, but not quite worth four stars (I'm going to put four anyway). It's informative, but dry.
I actually like dry books well enough, and so this did not bother me (reason I chose to put four stars rather than three)
The book was meant to be concise and an introduction to the Dead Sea Scrolls of the Qumran community. He did very well making his case, but not a great job showing the other views. He methodically showed why they couldn't be right, but didn't give reasons for their beliefs very well.
This is overall not a problem if it were more than just an introduction, but showing a biased hand early often makes readers hesitant as I was. I wanted to argue but didn't know how. I trust, after reading this book, that he was probably wise in what he believes, but it was a jarring thought while reading.
Also, the epilogue is entertaining, but mostly just about his life. That doesn't really effect anything, but I was hoping for a more exciting conclusion.
February 16, 2021
VanderKam's book is the standard and authoritative short introduction to the Qumran Scrolls. A great entry-point for everyone interested in the DSS. It is very informative and accessible. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading it.
March 25, 2017
Excellent introduction for the general public, ton on details to satisfy even a more advanced reader. (Subjective:) Biggest minus is the lacking referencing.
May 17, 2014
This appeared to be an evenhanded treatment of the history and content of the Dead Sea Scrolls. The author is a serious scholar and an authority on the Dead Sea scrolls. The book is sometimes a bit dry, but it is intended to be a scholarly book that looks at the facts. I learned a lot about the Dead Sea scrolls, which were particularly interesting to me as I had visited Qumran on a recent trip to Israel. I was also interested in this book because I was going to visit the Dead Sea scrolls exhibit in Salt Lake City. Fortunately I was able to read most of the book before that time. I would have rated this book higher except for the fact that it is now 20 years since it was published. I don't recommend the book for casual reading, but for anyone who has a great interest in the Dead Sea scrolls, it's definitely worth the time to read it.
June 6, 2016
Good overview of the dead sea scrolls history and scholarship up to 1994 when the book was published. A lot has happened in the following years but still a good read.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews