The Meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls

by A. Powell Davies

The Dead Sea Scrolls discovery in 1947 presented the greatest challenge to Christian beliefs since Darwin's evolutionary theory. This paperback retells the fascinating story of the discovery & purported meaning of the scrolls. It also describes their importance & interest to believers around the world. For those seeking spiritual enlightenment & a reconciliation of the scrolls with their faith, this book will give them a scholarly interpretation of the scrolls relationship to the bible & the origins of Christianity.The book includes a drawings, maps & photos for clarification as well as a bibliography.

Genres: History, Religion, Christian

Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1956

Reviews

[Alana Cash]

This is a second book on the Dead Sea scrolls that I've read and this one is by far more interesting. The author was the pastor of a church, so his point of view is quite different from the scholarly books I read earlier . I love the style of this author's writing - can't understand how other reviewers found it boring. The more scholarly book I found dry and boring.

I was impressed by Davies' knowledge of various documents of antiquity and their authors, but I presume a classical education would have informed him and I presume he was also educated in various languages - Greek, Latin, etc. Davies pointed me in directions to explore about the scrolls, the essenes, and general history of the time period.

I really enjoyed reading this book.

[Nelson Banuchi]

Excellent read. It is intriguing how the books were discovered, translated, and interpreted, and how much they reveal of ancient history before Jesus' and during time, although I think Davies (and those of whom he mentions who translated the DSS) speculative thoughts are erred.

Davies says, for example, "Nowhere in the Synoptic Gospels, even accepting the record exactly as it is, do we find a clear indication that Jesus regarded himself as the Messiah from the beginning of his ministry." Unfortunately, "accepting the record exactly as it is," Davies would be found to be incorrect (see Luke 2:49; 4:18-20; Matthew 21:13; John 2:16, Jesus confirms his self-knowledge of his unique relationship with God when he says, 'My Father's house," and quoting OT texts and referring it to himself).

Of course, the book is outdated (1956) and, perhaps, a more modern reading of the DSS might correct much of Davies speculative interpretations of the DSS. Nevertheless, this is a great read and I do recommend it (despite it being outdated and conjectural, as he himself admits, with reference to its relative importance in understanding Jesus Christ as revealed in the Bible), at least, as an intro into the DSS.

[Kenneth]

I read this one in my high school years and it, among other things, introduced me to the world of scholarly biblical criticism. The author was a Unitarian minister who died in 1957. In this book, he admitted that the Dead Sea Scrolls made untenable the view (which he had favored) of earlier Liberal Protestant theologians who had viewed Jesus as essentially a moral teacher, rather than an eschatological messianic figure (as per Albert Schweitzer). Of course, he had things to say about the Scrolls themselves - how they had been discovered and the reactions & theories that scholars had as of the mid-1950's. Quite heady reading for my teenage self back in the day who already had developed a passionate interest in history.

[Palak]

This book was very boring to read and the writing is just so dull that it will not keep anyone interested for more than two minutes. Although the subject matter is interesting, but the writing is so bad that I would prefer reading the dictionary than read this book. I will not recommend it.

[Heather]

I came upon this book while sorting through my father's books with my siblings after he died. Davies was the Minister of All Souls Church-Unitarian in Washington D.C., where my partner Cathy is now working, so I set this book aside as "to read," and now it has emerged from the shelves and piles to be read. In its old-school paperback format (my copy is the 5th printing, in 1957), it is easily readable while nursing. I am really enjoying it, and enjoying getting to read what is basically popular religious history / seminary reading at my own pace and purely for my own interest. Some of this stuff I'm sure I heard in lecture format in seminary but now I have little chunks of time (no sermons to write!) to actually absorb and digest it. Davies' writing is clear and easy to follow, and once in a while there's a genuine nugget, like this one: "The reason for exclusion [of certain texts from the biblical canon] was the opinion that the books...were more likely to awaken doubt than to sustain faith since they gave too little support to the officially formulated Christian doctrines" (59). Uh-huh: those are the books I want to be reading, the ones that awaken doubt! Doubt is real, friends (and Church "fathers/founders"), there's no avoiding it!

[Aaron Meyer]

Although one may consider the book dated (being written in the 50's), I found it to be a rather interesting overview of the subject. It gives a review of the discovery and dating of the dead sea scrolls, then moves on into an analysis of the sect of the scrolls (essenes) and later on into possible influence of Christian movement. The volume is very readable and should hold the interest of any who choose to read it. Then if one is still eager for more I would suggest reading Geza Vermes "The complete dead sea scrolls in english". ISBN 0713991313

[Erik Graff]

This overview of the discovery of the Dead Scrolls and their contents is dated by the recent release of far more material. It may be of some interest to one interested in the gradual dissemination of information about them, but John Allegro's works from the same period are better as he was actually involved in the original research. So, too, one might look into Edmund Wilson's early exposition with more profit, if only because he's a better writer.

[Rachel]

Very scholarly, but in that old-school pleasantly professorial sort of way. Asks hard questions, explains difficult theories, and gave me lots to chew on. It will be questioned where the author stands in his religious viewpoints, but its worth it to stick it out to the end of the book.

[Vegan Viajo]

Dated boring but incredibly educational