File:1994 * VanderKam.jpg

The Dead Sea Scrolls Today (1994) is a book by James C. VanderKam.

Abstract

"An in-depth study of the Scrolls includes information on their discovery, background, content, and the controversies surrounding them"--Publisher description.

Combining personal anecdotes with the history of scholarship on the Dead Sea Scrolls, VanderKam provides a cogent, concise, and yet comprehensive summary of the troubled history of Dead Sea Scrolls scholarship from their re-discovery in the 1940’s until ‘today’ (i.e. the 1990’s when VanderKam wrote.) Topics include everything from the story of how the Scrolls were re-discovered by the Bedouins, to a survey of the manuscripts themselves, to the Essene hypothesis, to the theology of the scrolls themselves and their relationship to the Old and New Testaments. To its credit, the work successfully avoids the sensationalistic tendencies-- which characterized the work of some Dead Sea Scrolls Scholars and caused them to substitute sound research for proposals that would captivate the media’s attention— yet remains accessible to both a general and scholarly audience. Moreover, in addition to its comprehensive survey of DSS research, the work is significant because it tacitly models what a new, more collaborative stage in Dead Sea Scrolls scholarship could look like. – Deborah Forger, University of Michigan

Editions

Published in Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1994 / 2nd rev. ed. 2010.

• The Dead Sea Scrolls Today, 2nd ed. (2010 VanderKam), book

Translations

• Dødehavsrullerne = The Dead Sea Scrolls Today (1995 VanderKam / Jordt), book (Danish ed.)

• Os manuscritos do Mar Morto hoje = The Dead Sea Scrolls Today (1995 VanderKam / Figueiredo), book (Portuguese ed.)

• 死海文書のすべて = The Dead Sea Scrolls Today (1995 VanderKam / Hata), book (Japanese ed.)

• Manoscritti del Mar Morto = The Dead Sea Scrolls Today (1995 VanderKam / Prato), book (Italian ed.)

• Manuskrypty znad Morza Martwego = The Dead Sea Scrolls Today (1996 @1994 VanderKam / Gromacka), book (Polish ed.)

Table of contents

• Preface
• 1. Discoveries
• 2. Survey of the Manuscripts
• 3. The Identification of the Qumran Group
• 4. The Qumran Essenes
• 5. The Scrolls and the Old Testament
• 6. The Scrolls and the New Testament
• 7. Controversies about the Dead Sea Scrolls

External links