Showing papers on "Dead Sea Scrolls published in 2005"

The Sacred Bridge: Carta's Atlas of the Biblical World

Abstract: To meet the need for clear and accurate information, Professors Anson F. Rainey and R. Steven Notley have now come forward with an atlas that traces the course of Near Eastern history from the Chalcolithic Age (c. 3500 BCE) to the defeat of Bar Kochba's fighters and their retreat to the caves east of En-gedi. The product of close cooperation between two distinguished scholars of world renown and the knowledgeable and experienced staff of Carta, Jerusalem, this Atlas provides 300 state-of-the-art maps to show as far as possible in terms of modern knowledge the changes and historical processes that affected the lands of the Bible. Included are all historical and biblical episodes that can be depicted cartographically migrations and settlements, battles and conquests, the location and detailed movement of individual historical and biblical characters. In addition, The Sacred Bridge Carta's Atlas of the Biblical World draws on information from all known ancient sources-Egyptian, Assyrian, Greek, Roman and others to reveal trade routes, economic determinants, and the development of international relations. Maps, many of them never before attempted, are presented chronologically, with extensive interpretive texts alongside. Finds, tools, artifacts, inscriptions and other documents from each period also appear in conjunction with the maps. The ultimate usefulness of any complex reference work depends on its index and its bibliography, and The Sacred Bridge Carta's Atlas of the Biblical World provides everything that could be asked for in the way of organized assistance to the reader. Each person or site can be located. An invaluable chronological table correlates historical activity in the East (Mesopotamia and Anatolia), the southern Levant, Egypt, and the Greco-Roman West from 2800 BCE to the second century CE. The superb reference sections contain every article, book or document consulted. The extensive index contains every place name that has been mapped and, in addition, names that still defy exact location but can be shown in relation to specific biblical episodes. New Testament geography, especially that of the Gospels, is interpreted in the light of the new understanding resulting from such discoveries as the Dead Sea Scrolls (e.g., the wider use of Hebrew as a social and religious vehicle than heretofore acknowledged). These refreshing insights serve to define geographical terms used in the New Testament and trace their origin. Documents are presented in their original languages and transcribed or translated into English. A special feature of this atlas is the insertion of these texts and their meaning within the narrative proper."

Religion and the Self in Antiquity

Abstract: Many recent studies have argued that the self is a modern invention, a concept developed in the last three centuries. Religion and the Self in Antiquity challenges that idea by presenting a series of studies that explore the origins, formation, and limits of the self within the religions of the ancient Mediterranean world. Drawing on recent work on the body, gender, sexuality, the anthropology of the senses, and power, contributors make a strong case that the history of the self does indeed begin in antiquity, developing as Western religion itself developed. David Brakke is Professor of Religious Studies and Adjunct Professor of History at Indiana University. He is the author of Athanasius and Asceticism and co-editor of Reading in Christian Communities: Essays on Interpretation in the Early Church. He serves as co-editor of the Journal of Early Christian Studies. Michael Satlow is an Associate Professor in the Program in Judaic Studies and the Department of Religious Studies at Brown University, and specializes in the study of early Judaism. He has written extensively on issues of Jewish marriage and sexuality in antiquity, the Dead Sea scrolls, and Jewish history and theology. Steven Weitzman is the Irving M. Glazer Chair in Jewish Studies and Director of the Robert A. and Sandra S. Borns Jewish Studies Program at Indiana University. He is the author of Song and Story in Biblical Narrative, Surviving Sacrilege: Cultural Persistence in Jewish Antiquity (forthcoming from Harvard University Press in 2005), and has written articles published in the Journal of Religion, the Journal of the American Oriental Society, the Harvard Theological Review, and the Journal of Biblical Literature. He is also Associate Director of the Tel Beth Shemesh excavations.

Johannine Sectarianism in Perspective: A Sociological, Historical, and Comparative Analysis of Temple and Social Relationships in the Gospel of John, Philo and Qumran

Abstract: The investigation evaluates the nature of the Johannine community by using sociological research on new religious movements today and by comparing John with Philo and the Dead Sea Scrolls. This novel procedure in Johannine research generates several alternative characteristics of John.

2. “Rewritten Bible”: A Generic Category Which Has Outlived Its Usefulness?

Abstract: I wished that Professor Geza Vermes had been in the audience during the presentation of the lecture on which this paper is based, so that, before proceeding with my lecture on the question whether the term “Rewritten Bible,” which he invented forty years ago, has outlived its usefulness, I could have thanked him for having given us such a useful tool for classification, one which has been employed for over four decades. There is no doubt that Scripture and Tradition in Judaism: Haggadic Studies, first published in 1961, has been one of the most influential works in a number of the fields which were represented at the congress at which this paper was originally read, particularly those of Qumran and early biblical interpretation. This presentation, which was originally solicited for a session which was to be entitled “The Bible and the Reworked Bible in the Qumran Scrolls,” is a further treatment of two themes which I have discussed on other occasions: (1) the impact of the Qumran discoveries on the development, one might even say the discovery, of the field of early biblical interpretation as an academic discipline, on the one hand, and (2) the importance of nomenclature, what we call the texts and genres which we are studying, on the other.1 They are each necessary components of any

Temple and Worship in Biblical Israel

Abstract: Part 1. Temples and High Places in Israel and the Canaanite World Like Deities, Like Temples (Like People), Mark S. Smith, New York University Massebot in the Israelite Cult: An Argument for making Implicit Cultic Criteria Explicit, Elizabeth Bloch-Smith, Tel Dor excavations From Gibeon to Gibeah: High Place of the Kingdom, Simcha Shalom Brooks, Freelance scholar working in London Part 2. Temple and Worship in the Old Testament YHWH's Exalted House - Aspects of the Design and Symbolism of Solomon's Temple, Victor (Avigdor) Hurowitz, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel The Prophets and the Cult, John Barton, University of Oxford Temple and Worship in Isaiah 6, H.G.M. Williamson, University of Oxford Temple and Worship in Ezekiel 40-48, Paul Joyce, University of Oxford Divine Reversal and the Role of the Temple in Trito-Isaiah, Jill Middlemas, The Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies Placing (a) God: Central Place Theory in Deuteronomy 12 and Delphi, Anselm Hagedorn, Humboldt-Universitat, Berlin Merely a Container? The Ark in Deuteronomy, Ian Wilson, Freelance scholar working in Cambridge Whatever happened to the Ark of the Covenant? John Day, University of Oxford Ordeals in the Psalms? Philip Johnston, Wycliffe Hall, Oxford Wisdom Psalms, Stuart Weeks, University of Durham The Zion Tradition and the Editing of the Hebrew Psalter, Susan Gillingham, University of Oxford The Day of Atonement as a Ritual of Validation for the High Priest, Deborah Rooke, King's College, University of London The Temple of David in the Book of Chronicles, John Jarick, St Stephen's House, Oxford Part 3. The Temple in the Late Second Temple Period and the New Testament Understandings of the Temple Service in the Septuagint Pentateuch, C.T.R. Hayward, University of Durham The Temple in the Apocryphal and Pseudepigraphal Literature of the Second and First Centuries BCE, Michael Knibb, King's College, University of London. The Temple(s) in the Dead Sea Scrolls, George Brooke, University of Manchester New Voices, Ancient Words: The Temple Scroll's Reuse of the Bible, Molly Zahn, University of Notre Dame The Temple in First Century CE Judaism, Martin Goodman, University of Oxford The Temple in the New Testament, Christopher Rowland, University of Oxford The Messianic Man of Peace as Temple Builder: Solomonic Imagery in Ephesians 2. 13-22, Larry Kreitzer, Regent's Park College, Oxford.

The Babylonian lunar three in calendrical scrolls from Qumran

Abstract: Abstract The three calendrical scrolls from Qumran, 4Q320, 4Q321, and 4Q321a, contain diverse calendrical materials, including a system for dating lunar phenomena over a triennial cycle of months. These scrolls, known for some time now, were published in their official editions recently in DJD XXI. Research into the full significance of the scrolls continues. Below we will propose that the lunar data in the three scrolls match that in Late Babylonian astronomical texts.

Writing the Wayward Wife: Rabbinic Interpretations of Sotah

Abstract: Writing the Wayward Wife is a study of rabbinic interpretations of sotah, the law concerning the woman suspected of adultery (Numbers 5:11-31). The focus of the book is on interpretations of sotah in tannaitic and amoraic texts: the Mishnah, Tosefta, Midrash Halakhah, Midrash Aggadah, and the Palestinian and Babylonian Talmuds. The body of the work is in-depth analysis of the legal and ritual proceedings. Jewish Greek interpretations (Josephus, Philo, and LXX) also are addressed, along with the Protevangelium of James, and fragments from the Dead Sea Scrolls and Cairo Geniza. Finally, the disappearance of the ritual is discussed, with implications for the development of rabbinic authority. In previous secondary literature, the law of sotah has been understood as either proto-feminist or misogynist. This book argues that neither of these are appropriate paradigms. Rather, this book identifies the emergence of two major interpretive themes: the emphasis on legal procedures, and the condemnation of adultery.

Calendar, Chronology And Worship: Studies in Ancient Judaism And Early Christianity

Abstract: This book takes as its theme the related issues of calendar, chronology and worship, as they were conceived and practised in ancient Jewish and early Christian times. After a general discussion of the way the three issues are related, there follow six chapters on the calendar, first the standard Jewish calendar, then the Qumran calendar (giving particular attention to the Book of Enoch and the Temple Scroll) and finally the Christian calendar - both the standard Christian calendar and that observed by the Montanists. Three chapters on chronology come next, one of them offering a chronological solution to a puzzling calendrical problem in the Dead Sea Scrolls, another relating Jewish eschatological expectations to New Testament teaching, and a third examining the chronological calculations of the Hellenistic Jew Demetrius, the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, and the Book of Jubilees. The three concluding chapters, on worship, include an investigation of the historical development of the Psalter and a careful survey of the relationship between ancient Jewish worship and early Christian. The book discusses a variety of issues that arise in modern biblical, intertestamental and patristic study, some neglected, some very controversial, and throws new light upon them.

Two Interpretations of “Justification” in the New Testament Reflections on Galatians 2:15-21 and James 2:21-25

Abstract: The terminology of righteousness and justification is found in several parts of the New Testament, with a clear preponderance in Paul's letters, especially Romans and Galatians. The only other two documents with a comparatively high percentage of such terminology are Matthew and James, not only with regard to the noun and the adjective but also to the causative verb .1 Studies on the Theology of Paul contain longer passages on “justification by faith” of course.2 It should not be forgotten, however, that, as the Dead Sea Scrolls re-documented, the Jewish tradition was well aware of the notion of “justified by grace”.3 The New Testament authors took over both the terminology and theological implications from the Jewish heritage.4 This is certainly true for Paul but not necessarily so for James. Rather, it seems that James reacts to a tradition which has its roots in early Christianity, more precisely in Paul (we shall resume that item later). In both cases, the authors do not explain the terminology of jus...

Reworking the Bible : apocryphal and related texts at Qumran : proceedings of a joint symposium by the Orion Center for the Study of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Associated Literature and the Hebrew University Institute for Advanced Studies Research Group on Qumran, 15-17 January, 2002

Abstract: This book contains papers presented at a symposium on "Reworking the Bible at Qumran" convened in 2002 by the Institute of Advanced Studies and the Orion Center for the Study of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Associated Literature at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The core theme is the use and interpretation of the Bible in apocryphal and related works found at Qumran. Nearly half the papers treat legal interpretation; the other half, examines narrative exegesis. Key issues include the question of the authority of the reworked biblical texts, their exegetical techniques, motifs, and genres. This collection provides a valuable resource for the study of Bible, the history of interpretation, apocrypha and pseudepigrapha, ancient Judaism and early Christianity.

Rachel Elior on Ancient Jewish Calendars: A Critique

Abstract: Rachel Elior's new book The Three Temples. On the Emergence of Jewish Mysticism (Oxford: Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, 2004), first published in Hebrew in 2001, purports to trace the origins of Jewish mysticism through a broad, interpretative study of ancient Judaism. It focuses on Apocryphal, sectarian, and early mystical literature, including the books of Ezekiel, Enoch, Jubilees, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and finally the Heikhalot. Particular importance is placed on the Temple, priests, and priestly worship-originally historical realities, later heavenly ideals. But considerable attention is also devoted to ancient Jewish calendars and their ideological significance. My intention here is not to review the book as a whole, but only to assess Elior's interpretation of ancient Jewish calendarswhich, I should state from the outset, differs radically from mine.1 But her interpretation of calendars fits into a wider thesis that pervades the book, and that must first be outlined. Elior's main thesis rests on an opposition between two separate strands in ancient Judaism, the priestly and the rabbinic. The priestly strand, according to Elior, was initiated by the Zadokite priesthood that

Resurrection of the Dead: Exploring Our Earliest Evidence Today

Abstract: Scholars now have more information than ever before about the origins and development of one of the most shocking claims in the history of religions: God supernaturally raises dead bodies from the grave and restores them to life again. At least two factors have contributed to our recent increase in knowledge on this important topic. First, increased study of the Old Testament Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha over the last thirty years has gradually broadened our understanding of what writings like 2 Maccabees, 1 Enoch, the Psalms of Solomon, and other writings can teach us about ancient resurrection hope.1 Second, exciting new documents mentioning the resurrection have also been dramatically revealed among the Dead Sea Scrolls and only fully published within the last decade.2 Furthermore, epigraphy and archaeology have also broadened our understandings of ancient burial practices and the various epitaphs 22

Biblical interpretation at Qumran (Studies in the Dead Sea Scrolls and Related Literature), Matthias Henze (ed) : book review

Abstract: Extracted from text ... Henze, Matthias (ed) 2005. Biblical interpretation at Qumran (Studies in the Dead Sea Scrolls and Related Literature). Grand Rapids, MI/Cambridge, UK: Eerdmans. xiii + 214 pages. Paperback. US $25, 00 (15, 99). ISBN 0-8028-3937-1. The present volume is concerned with the study of biblical interpretation during the Second Temple period and emanated from a public conference on the topic held at Rice University, Houston, Texas in 2001. The articles are arranged roughly in the canonical order of their respective topics, stretching from the creation of humankind to the reception history of the psalms at Qumran. The volume ends with a ..

A Cave 4 Fragment of Divre Moshe (4QDM) and the Text of 1Q22 I 7-10 and Jubilees 1:9, 14

Abstract: I PAM 43.686 frg. 30 is also found in PAM 42.472,42.815, and 43.490. B.Z. Wacholder & M.G. Abegg, A Preliminary edition of the Unpublished Dead Sea Scrolls. The Hebrew and Aramaic texts from Cave Four. Fascicle III. Based on a Reconstruction of the Original Transcription of J.T. Milik and J. Strugnell (Washington, D.C.: Biblical Archaeology Society, 1995) 283, transcribed the fragment as 4Q396 frg. 2, due to the fact that it was placed with 4Q396 fragments in PAM 43.490, even though the hands are clearly different. E. Qimron and J. Strugnell (Qumran Cave 4.V. Miqsat Ma'as'eh ha-Torah [DJD 10; Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1994] 16-17) characterize the hand of 4Q396 as a vulgar semiformal of Herodian times, whereas the few letters of PAM 43.686 frg. 30 are written in a late Hasmonaean to early Herodian bookhand. 2 1Q22 was published by Milik in Qumran Cave I (DJD 1; Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1955) 91-97, Pls. XVIII-XIX. The earliest photograph of the still unopened scroll and some fragments is given in G. Lankester Harding, "The Dead Sea Scrolls," PEQ 81 (1949) 112-16, Pls. XVII-XXI, at P1. XXI, fig. 2. The 1Q22 fragments shown in PEQ are frgs. 41 (verso), 42, 44 and 45, as well as three fragments from the beginning of the scroll, to wit the unnumbered fragments of col. 1 placed beneath frgs. 1 and 2, as well as the upper left piece of frg. 26. Apparently, these fragments had become detached from the interior of the unopened scroll.

The Book of Wisdom and the Dead Sea Scrolls: an overview

Abstract: Without going back to the time of the Patriarchs, for which there are no historical sources concerning a presence of the Israelites in Egypt, the geographical proximity of Canaan on the one hand, and, on the other hand, the unavoidable corridor of the fertile Crescent must inevitably have played a part in their shared history. Dwelling place of the Semitic clans during long periods of drought, hunger or forced migrations, Egypt is pictured in the Bible and the apocryphal literature as the land of slavery at the service of Pharaoh, out of which the Lord has led his people with a strong hand. These attractions and repulsions are in fact reciprocal, according to the Egyptian data.1 However, during the Judaean-Israelite monarchy, Egypt was mostly the initiator of uprisings and coalitions of kingdoms of the region against the Assyrian power.2 Therefore it is not surprising that, for security reasons, refugees fled their country and installed themselves in Egypt, all the more since Judaean mercenaries fought in the army of Psammetichus against the Ethiopians.3 Passages of the Books of the Prophets and of 2 Kings 20-23 in particular speak of the establishment of military contingents in Egypt, probably already during the reign of Manasseh and Psammetichus I, which would well explain the building of the Judaean temple in Elephantine in Upper Egypt before the deuteronomic reform.4 Whatever the explanation for the latter, a Judaean presence there is attested towards 600 BC. The dethroned king Jehoahaz dies in Egypt, and several missions of the military and prophets are known through texts, Jer 26:20ff., and the ostracon III of Lachish. The prophet Jeremiah, carried away to Egypt after the murder of Gedaliah, continues among his fellow patriots the mission led under the last kings of Jerusalem (Jer 4144). Jeremiah and Ezekiel (Ezek 29-32) predict the destruction of Egypt and

The Archaeology of Ancient Judea and Palestine

Abstract: The regions that compose the current state of Israel and the emerging state of Palestine have yielded a wealth of fascinating archaeological evidence, from the Dead Sea Scrolls found in a cave in 1947 by a Bedouin searching for a lost sheep, to the remains of Roman camps and King Herod's luxurious palaces at the besieged city of Masada. The authors begin with introductions to the complicated and turbulent history of the region in which a series of invaders, including Babylonians, Assyrians, Persians, and Macedonians conquered and ruled over its people. The long reign of the Romans in the area is given particular attention-a reign that produced the infamous client rulers Herod the Great and Pontius Pilate, as well as two Jewish revolts against their Roman overlords, both of which met with brutal suppression. Lewin also analyzes eighteen ancient city-sites, including the familiar, such as Jerusalem and Bethlehem, and the less well-known, such as Herodion, with its extravagant palace-fortress, and Scythopolis, with its Roman temples and baths. This book provides an enlightening overview of a region that continues to capture the attention of the world. J PAUL GETTY MUSEUM

The Book of Joshua—Part 1: Texts and Versions:

Abstract: Over the past few decades there has been increased interest in, and research on, the text of the book of Joshua in the Masoretic tradition, the Septuagint, and other ancient versions, as well as the fragmentary remains from the Dead Sea Scrolls. This article provides a discussion of the ancient evidence and an analysis of the major modern theories. English translations of the various textual traditions are compared and discussed. Although the differences are not as extensive as in Jeremiah, and the Qumran material is relatively scant, contemporary scholars have devised a number of intriguing theories to explain the differences and to highlight their significance within the literary, textual, and theological development of this important biblical book. This article is the first half of a two-part treatment discussing recent scholarship on the book of Joshua.

The Theme of Apocalyptic War in the Dead Sea Scrolls

Abstract: The theme of apocalyptic war was widely developed in Qumran literature. The main source of information about the apocalyptic war can be found in lQM, whch Sukenrk named "The War of the Sons of Light against the Sons of Darkness."' According to Paolo Sacchi, "The word 'apocalyptic' is a modern invention, deriving from the wish to conceptualize the field of research on the affinities between the Apocalypse of John and other works of its time."2 In other words, apocalyptic literature has to have two characteristics: a twodimensional picture of the world, with heavenly and earthly dimensions both present, and symbolic representation of the main personages. The 'War Scroll" seems to comply with these characteristics. The entire content of the scroll is dedicated to the planning of the war between the "faithful" Sons of Light and their enemies. The heavenly realm is constantly projected upon the earthly dimension. Some elements of apocalyptic war are also present in the Pesharim, commentaries found at Qumran that interpret the prophecies about the destiny of the enemies of Israel. The Pesharim can apply these prophecies either to the present reality or to future events. The goal of the present research is to investigate the ideology of apocalyptic war presented in the DSS. In order to gain a better understanding of the nature of this apocalyptic war, and of the character of the Qumran community as well, the present research d l focus on the question of the identification of the enemy in the apocalyptic war. The answer to this question will help to explain the ideology of the community of Qumran in comparison to other Jewish and early Christian communities of that t h e .

The creation of heaven and earth : re-interpretations of Genesis I in the context of Judaism, ancient philosophy, Christianity, and modern physics

Abstract: Introduction Part I. Creation in Genesis, Jeremiah, the Ancient Near East and Early Judaism 1) The Creation of Light in Genesis 1:1-5: Remarks on the Function of Light and Darkness in the Opening Verses of the Hebrew Bible 2) Back to Chaos: The Relationship between Jeremiah 4:23-26 and Genesis 1 3) 'Lights Serving as Signs for Festivals' (Genesis 1:14b) in Enuma Elis and Early Judaism 4) Creation in the Dead Sea Scrolls - Part II Creation in Ancient Greece, Ancient Philosophy, and the Earliest Graeco-Roman Interpretations of Genesis 1 (5) Canonical and Alternative Creation Myths in Ancient Greece (6) Cosmic Gods and Primordial Chaos in Hellenistic and Roman Philosophy: The Context of Philo's Interpretation of Plato's Timaeus and the Book of Genesis (7) God the Creator, God the Creation: Numenius' Interpretation of Genesis 1:2 (Frg. 30) (8) Galen and Genesis Part III. Creation in the Johannine, Petrine, and Pauline Literatures (9) The 'True Light which Enlightens Everyone' (John 1:9): John, Genesis, the Platonic Notion of the 'True, Noetic Light,' and the Allegory of the Cave in Plato's Republic (10) Creation 'Out of' and 'Through' Water in 2 Peter 3:5 (11) The History of Religions Background to 1 Timothy 4:4: 'Everything that God has Created is Good' - Part IV. Creation in the Middle Ages and Modernity (12) Reading Creation: Early Medieval Views on Genesis and Plato's Timaeus (13) Design in Nature: Some Current Issues (14) Design in Nature: Some Comments from the Ancient Perspective - Index of Ancient Texts

Mystery or History: The Dead Sea Scrolls as Pop Phenomenon

Abstract: Consumers with an interest in the Dead Sea Scrolls will find a variety of videotapes on the subject on sale at a popular retail website. "Secrets of the Dead Sea Scrolls," "Ancient Mysteries: Enigma of the Dead Sea Scrolls," and "Mysteries of the Dead Sea Scrolls Exposed" (the last in three volumes) all promise to provide audiences with insights into the true significance of the scrolls. As these titles suggest, that significance is grounded in the revelation of ancient mysteries and the uncovering of hidden secrets.' For Dead Sea Scrolls scholars, in contrast, the relevant "secrets" of the scrolls are connected with issues of scriptural development and ancient Jewish sectarianism, and it is therefore tempting to dismiss such popular mystery-claims with an incredulous shake of the head. However, a close look at some popular-culture presentations of the scrolls reveals an unexpected link to academic discourse. While popular presentations may appear at first glance merely to oversimplify the picture or to invent falsehoods outright, closer investigation demonstrates that such presentations often are grounded in actual scholarly claims, however rewritten, redirected, and taken out of their original contexts.