Reclaiming the Dead Sea Scrolls (1994 Schiffman), book
Reclaiming the Dead Sea Scrolls: The History of Judaism, the Background of Christianity, the Lost Library of Qumran (1994) is a book by Lawrence H. Schiffman.
Abstract
Schiffman’s Reclaiming the Dead Sea Scrolls is perhaps most noteworthy for its insistence that non-Jewish scholars hijacked the scrolls, slowing down the publication process, whereas Qumran scholarship (and its readers) would be much better off if Jewish scholars, who spoke, wrote, and understood Hebrew, took over the responsibilities for translating, publishing and analyzing the scrolls. Schiffman presents his unique thesis that the Qumran community was comprised of schismatic Sadducees, who brought many of the scrolls to the community.
Table of Contents
Part 1: Discovery and Disclosure: Liberating the Scrolls
1. Shepherds and Scholars: Secrets of the Cave 2. Scholars, Scrolls and Scandals 3. The Archaeology of Qumran
Part 2: The Community at Qumran
4. Judaism, Hellenism and Sectarianism 5. Origins and Early History 6. The Character of the Community 7. Leadership 8. Women in the Scrolls 9. Faith and Belief
Part 3: Closing the Canon: Biblical Texts and Interpretation
10. Bible, Canon and Text 11. Apocryphal Literature 12. Wisdom and the Mysteries of Creation 13. Biblical Interpretation 14. The Prophets in the Hands of Men
Part 4: To Live as a Jew
15. The Theology of Jewish Law 16. The Enigma of the Temple Scroll 17. The Law of the Sect 18. Prayer and Ritual
Part 5: Mysticism, Messianism, and the End of Days
19. The Messianic Idea 20. The Community at the End of Days 21. The Pierced Messiah and Other Controversial Texts 22. Mysticism and Magic
Part 6: Sectarianism, Nationalism, and Consensus
23. Israel and the Nations 24. Jerusalem, the Holy City 25. The Decline of Sectarianism and the Emergence of Rabbinic Judaism
Editions and translations
Published in Philadelphia, PA: Jewish Publication Society, 1994. Reprinted in New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2007. Translated into French (2003).