The Meaning of the

Dead Sea Scrolls

Their Significance for Understanding the Bible, Judaism, Jesus, and Christianity

James Vanderkam

and

Peter Flint

HarperSanFrancisco

A Division of HarperCollins Publishers

the meaning of the dead sea scrolls: Their Significance for Understanding the Bible, Judaism, Jesus, and Christianity. Copyright © 2002 by James VanderKam and Peter Flint. All rights reserved. No Part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information address HarperCollins Publishers, Inc., 10 East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022.

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first HarperCollins paperback edition published in 2004

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

VanderKam, James C.

The meaning of the Dead Sea scrolls: their significance for understanding the Bible, Judaism, Jesus, and Christianity / James C. VanderKam.—1st ed.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

ISBN 0-06-068465-8 (pbk.)

1. Dead Sea scrolls—History and criticism. 2. Bible. O.T.—Criticism, interpretation, etc. 3. Qumran community. 4. Dead Sea scrolls—Relation to the New Testament. I. Flint, Peter W. II. Title.

BM487.V27 2002

296.1′55—dc21 20022069730

To Mary

To Amanda

Contents

foreword

by emanuel tov

preface

acknowledgments

part one

Discoveries, Dating, Archeology, and New Methods

1 The Discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls

2 Dating the Dead Sea Scrolls

3 Archeology of the Qumran Site

4 Technology and the Dead Sea Scrolls

part two

The Dead Sea Scrolls and Scripture

5 The Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Before the Scrolls

6 The Biblical Scrolls and the Text of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament

7 The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Canon of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament

8 Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha in the Dead Sea Scrolls

part three

The Nonbiblical Scrolls and Their Message

9 A Survey of the Nonbiblical Scrolls

10 Identifying the Group Associated with Qumran

11 The Theology or Belief System of the Qumran Group

12 The Qumran Group Within Early Judaism

13 Biblical Interpretation in the Dead Sea Scrolls

part four

The Scrolls and the New Testament

14 Were New Testament Scrolls Found at Qumran?

15 Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls: The Gospels and Qumran

16 The Dead Sea Scrolls and Other New Testament Books: Acts and the Letters

17 The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Book of Revelation

part five

Controversies About the Dead Sea Scrolls

18 Scroll Wars

appendixes

I Index of Passages in the Biblical Scrolls from the Judean Desert

II Index of Passages from the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha in the Scrolls...