Discovering the Dead Sea Scrolls

The Dead Sea Scrolls, discovered between 1946 and 1950 in remote caves high above the Judean Desert, have been called one of the most important, and controversial, archaeological finds of all time. Come learn about this vast collection of lost and rediscovered Jewish literature, the mysterious community that produced it, and what it can teach us about the Bible, daily life in Israel under Roman rule, and the history of Jewish belief, practice and prayer.

Outline

1. Discoveries in the Dead Sea. What are the scrolls? The world that made them. Pre-1947 find stories. Finds, figures and characters from 1947-1952. Translating and publishing the scrolls.

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2. Assembling, Appending and Retelling: The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Bible. What is the relationship of the scrolls to biblical scholarship? The Hebrew Bible canon. Second Temple Texts and Genres: Rewritten bible and pesher.

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3. Remarkable Beyond all the Other Tribes: The Essene Community of the Scrolls. Jewish sectarianism. Khirbet Qumran. Essene lifestyle, beliefs and observance. Data from contemporary sources. Evidence for the Essene hypothesis.

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4. Angels and Demons, Prayers and Praise. The unique sectarian literature of Qumran. Angels, demons and cosmic warfare. Torah observance. Revelation and the interior life. The worship life of the Essene community.

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5. Myseries, Secrets and Lies: Controversies of the Scrolls. The scrolls in popular imagination. Legends and conspiracies. The Essenes and early Christianity. Thefts, fakes and forgeries. The scrolls in the 21st century.

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Scholarium Instructor Bio

Scott Chase is a doctoral student in religion at Boston University, where he studies the history, literature and material culture of Judaism in Greco-Roman antiquity and is a teaching fellow for courses such as 'The Bible,' 'Death and Immortality,' 'World Religions' and 'Intro to Religion.' Scott holds masters degrees in Biblical Studies from Boston University and in Ancient History and Archaeology from Brandeis University. He has participated in five seasons of excavations in northern Israel, including three with the Hellenistic Galilee Project.