Reclaiming the Dead Sea Scrolls (1994 Schiffman), book

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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.

Editions and translations

Published in Philadelphia, PA: Jewish Publication Society, 1994. Reprinted in New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2007. Translated into French (2003).

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

External links

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