The Dead Sea Scrolls are found in many varied publications -- often ordered only by publication date, rather than a more easily navigable system -- making specific texts difficult to find. Joseph Fitzmyer's guide offers a practical remedy to this dilemma. A Guide to the Dead Sea Scrolls and Related Literature starts by explaining the conventional system of abbreviations for the Scrolls. Then it helpfully lists specifically where readers can find each of the Scrolls and fragmentary texts from the eleven caves of Qumran and all the related sites, using the officially assigned numbers of the text. Fitzmyer supplies information on study tools helpful for scholars -- concordances, dictionaries, translations, outlines of longer texts, and more -- and briefly indicates electronic resources for the study of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Acclaimed professor Craig A. Evans gives a thoroughly researched and colorfully illustrated overview of the Dead Sea Scrolls and their importance for Christianity.

The roots of the Hasmonean Revolt: the reign of Antiochus IV -- Questions of identity: the "teacher of righteousness," the "man of lies," and Jonathan the Hasmonean -- The succession of high priests: John Hyrcanus and his sons in the Pesher to Joshua 6:26 -- Alexander Jannaeus and his war against Ptolemy Lathyrus -- A prayer for the welfare of King Jonathan -- The Pharisees' conflict with Alexander Jannaeus and Demetrius' invasion of Judaea -- The successors of Alexander Jannaeus and the conquest of Judaea by Pompey -- The assassination of Pompey -- The changing notion of the enemy and its impact on the Pesharim.

The eight essays in this book on the subjects of eschatology and messianism evidenced in the Dead Sea Scrolls were originally delivered at a conference for a lay audience, and are therefore accessible to the interested reading public.

Meeting a need for quality English-language resources on the Dead Sea Scrolls, this series makes available to readers at all levels the best of current Dead Sea Scrolls research, showing how the Scrolls impact our understanding of the Bible, Judaism, and Christianity.

Since the photographs of the Dead Sea Scrolls were released in 1992, there has been an explosion of interest in them. This volume explores the issue of apocalypticism in the Scrolls; how the notions of the 'end', Messianic expectation and eternal life affected the Dead Sea sect, influenced Judaism and filtered into Christianity. Collins' volume provides a valuable and accessible introduction to the interpretation of the Scrolls, which is an informative addition to the series examining the major themes of the Scroll texts.

Since they were first discovered in the caves at Qumran in 1947, the Dead Sea Scrolls have aroused more fascination-- and controversy-- than perhaps any other archaeological find. Collins sheds light on the bitter conflicts that have swirled around the scrolls, and sheds lights on their true significance for Jewish and Christian history.

In 1947, a Bedouin shepherd literally stumbled upon a cave near the Dead Sea, a settlement now called Qumran, to the east of Jerusalem. This cave, along with the others located nearby, contained jars holding hundreds of scrolls and fragments of scrolls of texts both biblical and nonbiblical—in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. The biblical scrolls would be the earliest evidence of the Hebrew Scriptures, or Old Testament, by hundreds of years; and the nonbiblical texts would shed dramatic light on one of the least-known periods of Jewish history—the Second Temple period. This find is, quite simply, the most important archaeological event in two thousand years of biblical studies. The scrolls provide information on nearly every aspect of biblical studies, including the Old Testament, text criticism, Second Temple Judaism, the New Testament, and Christian origins. It took more than fifty years for the scrolls to be completely and officially published, and there is no comparable brief, introductory resource. Core Biblical Studies fulfill the need for brief, substantive, yet highly accessible introductions to key subjects and themes in biblical studies. In the shifting tides of biblical interpretation, these books are designed to help students locate relevant meanings in conversation with the text. As a first step toward substantive and subsequent learning, the series draws on the best scholarship in order to provide foundational concepts and contextualized information on a broad scope of issues, methods, perspectives, and trends.

Thirty international scholars probe the main disputed issues in the study of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Essays engage with the lively debate continues over the archaeology and history of the site, the nature and identity of the sect, and its relation to the broader world of Second Temple Judaism and to later Jewish and Christian tradition.

The Dead Sea Scrolls continue to shed ancient light on both the text and interpretation of the Hebrew Bible during the Second Temple period. Among the scrolls are several copies of Genesis dating from the first century BC to the mid-first century AD that contain portions of text from the creation account. These fragmentary copies have provided an unprecedented glimpse into the condition of the text in antiquity and have also provided a unique window into certain scribal practices in the copying of the text. In addition, several texts from Qumran contain the most ancient surviving interpretations of the Genesis creation account, dating from the mid-second century BC to the first century AD. A literary analysis of these texts reveals how ancient Jews interpreted and employed the creation account. These diverse texts address issues such as the creation of various entities (the universe, angels, Eden, humanity), Adam's dominion and knowledge in Eden, God's election of Israel on the first Sabbath, the prohibition in the garden and Adam's rebellion, and the Garden of Eden as an archetype of the sanctuary.