Ritual Purity and the Dead Sea Scrolls

Ritual Purity and the Dead Sea Scrolls
Author: Ian C. Werrett
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 360
Release: 2007
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9004156232

As the first comprehensive study on the concept of ritual purity in the Dead Sea Scrolls since the full publication of the legal material from Qumran, this book offers a detailed examination of the purity material from Qumran through a diachronic lens.

Ritual Purity and the Dead Sea Scrolls

Ritual Purity and the Dead Sea Scrolls
Author: Ian Werrett
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 359
Release: 2007-11-30
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9047423011

This book represents the first comprehensive study on the concept of ritual purity in the Dead Sea Scrolls since the full publication of the legal material from Qumran. Utilizing an independent approach to the relevant documents from Qumran, this study discusses the primary and secondary literature on the five major categories of impurity in the scrolls (i.e., diseases, clean/unclean animals, corpses, bodily discharges, and sexual misdeeds). This examination is supported by a comparison between the scrolls’ purity legislations and their biblical counterparts. The book culminates with a comparison between the purity rulings in the scrolls and a diachronic reading of the explicit agreements and disagreements found therein. The result is a far more comprehensive and nuanced interpretation than has been previously offered.

Rhetoric and the Dead Sea Scrolls

Rhetoric and the Dead Sea Scrolls
Author: Bruce McComiskey
Publisher: Penn State Press
Total Pages: 242
Release: 2021-05-20
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 0271090529

Discovered in 1947, the Dead Sea Scrolls are a collection of ancient Israelite documents, many of which were written by a Jewish sectarian community at Qumran living in self-exile from the priesthood of the Second Temple. This first book-length study of the rhetoric of these texts illustrates how the Essenes employed different rhetorics over time as they struggled to understand God’s word and their mission to their people, who seemed to have turned away from God and his purposes. Applying methods of rhetorical analysis to six substantive texts—Miqṣat Maʿaśeh ha-Torah, Rule of the Community, Damascus Document, Purification Rules, Temple Scroll, and Habakkuk Pesher—Bruce McComiskey traces the Essenes’ use of rhetorical strategies based on identification, dissociation, entitlement, and interpretation. Through his analysis, McComiskey uncovers a unique, fascinating story of an ancient religious community that had sought to reintegrate into Temple life but, dejected, instead established itself as the new covenant people of God for this world, only to turn ultimately to a trust in a metaphysical afterlife. Presenting forms of ancient Jewish rhetoric largely uninfluenced by classical rhetoric, this book broadens our understanding of human and religious rhetorical practice, even as it provides new insight into the events that led to the emergence of the Talmudic period. Rhetoric and the Dead Sea Scrolls will be useful to scholars working in the fields of religious rhetoric, Jewish studies, and early Christianity.

Reclaiming the Dead Sea Scrolls

Reclaiming the Dead Sea Scrolls
Author: Lawrence H. Schiffman
Publisher: Anchor Bible
Total Pages: 0
Release: 1995
Genre: Dead Sea scrolls
ISBN: 9780385481212

Universally acknowledged as the dean of New Testament scholarship, Brown brings a lifetime of teaching and research to bear in his landmark overview of the New Testament.

The Dead Sea Scrolls

The Dead Sea Scrolls
Author: Donald T. Ariel
Publisher:
Total Pages: 178
Release: 2007
Genre: Religion
ISBN:

The Dead Sea Scrolls are regarded as perhaps the most important archaeological find of the twentieth century - their importance to the history and development of Judaism and Christianity is unquestionable. This lavishly produced book shows the scrolls in their context, providing translations, pictures, and information on associated finds.

The Dead Sea Scrolls on Sexuality

The Dead Sea Scrolls on Sexuality
Author: William Loader
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
Total Pages: 451
Release: 2009-08-05
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0802863914

William Loader here investigates the Dead Sea Scrolls, mining every document of potential relevance for understanding ancient attitudes towards sexuality, aside from the biblical writings and there are many such documents. They include the Temple Scroll, 4QMMT, the Damascus Document, and a number of legal, liturgical, wisdom, and exegetical documents. These texts treat a wide range of matters pertaining to sexuality, from ritual and cultic concerns to visions of human community and family in future expectation. Far from the common view that the writers of the Scrolls held a low view of sexuality and marriage, Loader concludes that most of these sources reflect an affirmative stance towards sex and marriage within a framework of clear boundaries marking out where sex did and did not belong. / The Dead Sea Scrolls on Sexuality offers the first comprehensive treatment of this subject and comprises both detailed exegetical discussion of each work and a synthetic analysis of themes. The attention to detail displayed and the helpful summaries included make this book an indispensable resource for both scholar and general reader.

The Archaeology of Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls

The Archaeology of Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls
Author: Jodi Magness
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
Total Pages: 284
Release: 2002
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9780802826879

Magness (early Judaism, U. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill), who has extensive archaeological experience in the area, has written a popular account of the archaeology, meaning, and controversies surrounding the Dead Seas Scrolls and the archaeological site of Qumran where they were found. Without sacrificing content, Magness turns this story into a fascinating page-turner. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Qumran Studies

Qumran Studies
Author: Michael Thomas Davis
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
Total Pages: 325
Release: 2007-08-28
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 080286080X

In Qumran Studies the texts considered are old -- but the questions are new, standard positions are revisited, and issues are reopened with fresh results. The Dead Sea Scrolls have undeniably revolutionized scholarly understanding on a number of fronts. This revolution has been ongoing for over fifty years and shows no signs of letting up -- especially as full publication of the Scrolls is now complete. With that publication, the important work of interpretation and analysis can continue with a rethinking of earlier analyses in light of the full evidence. This volume makes a signal scholarly contribution toward that end. Contributors: Shane A. Berg Carsten Claussen Michael A. Daise Michael Thomas Davis C. D. Elledge Loren L. Johns John B. Faulkenberry Miller Lidija Novakovic Henry W. Morisada Rietz Brent A. Strawn Loren T. Stuckenbruck

Liturgical Works

Liturgical Works
Author: James R. Davila
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
Total Pages: 354
Release: 2000
Genre: Reference
ISBN: 9780802843807

Among the invaluable manuscripts of the Dead Sea Scrolls are numerous fragments of liturgical texts pertaining to the ritual life of Jews living around the turn of the common era. These fascinating writings include prayers for annual festivals, a covenant renewal liturgy, a mystical liturgy for Sabbath sacrifices, a grace ceremony for mourners, daily and weekly prayers, liturgies of purification, and perhaps even a wedding ceremony. In this volume, the first to be published in the Eerdmans Commentaries on the Dead Sea Scrolls series, James Davila introduces, translates, and provides a detailed exegesis of these important documents. The book begins with a general introduction to the Qumran library and Jewish liturgical traditions. Davila then provides an introduction, translation, notes on the original Hebrew, and line-by-line commentary for each of the Qumran liturgical works. Davila's excellent translation work combines overlapping fragmentary manuscripts into a single, smoothly flowing text, and his commentary includes numerous fresh insights and observations on these writings. Giving full attention to parallel texts found in the Hebrew Bible and other Jewish and Christian writings through late antiquity, Davila firmly situates the Qumran liturgical works in their historical context in Second Temple Judaism and discusses their significance as background to the Jewish liturgy, Jewish mysticism, and Christian origins. Shedding light on a period of Jewish history whose ritual life formerly lay almost entirely in darkness, this volume makes--and subsequent ECDSS volumes will make--a valuable contribution to our understanding of the biblical world.

The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Bible

The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Bible
Author: James C. VanderKam
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
Total Pages: 203
Release: 2012-01-31
Genre: Bibles
ISBN: 0802866794

"Six of the seven chapters in The Dead Sea scrolls and the Bible began as the Speaker's Lectures at Oxford University, delivered during the first two weeks of May 2009"--Introd.