The Sixteenth Orion Symposium celebrated seventy years of Dead Sea Scrolls research under the theme, “Clear a path in the wilderness!” (Isaiah 40:3). Papers use the wilderness rubric to address the self-identification of the Qumran group; dimensions of religious experience reflected in the Dead Sea writings; biblical interpretation as shaper and conveyor of that experience; the significance of the Qumran texts for critical biblical scholarship; points of contact with the early Jesus movement; and new developments in understanding the archaeology of the Qumran caves. The volume both honors past insights and charts new paths for the future of Qumran studies.
This volume presents Shalom Paul's comprehensive study of the oracles of the anonymous prophet known as Second Isaiah. In his commentary Paul offers thorough exegesis of the historical, linguistic, literary, and theological aspects of Isiah 40-66.
The Sixteenth Orion Symposium celebrated seventy years of Dead Sea Scrolls research. These papers address dimensions of religious experience and identity reflected in the Scrolls; biblical interpretation; the significance of the Qumran texts for biblical criticism; and new understandings of Qumran archaeology.
Mark A. Jason offers a detailed investigation of the place of repentance in the Dead Sea Scrolls, addressing a significant lacuna in Qumran scholarship. Normally, when the belief system of the community is examined, “repentance” is usually taken for granted or relegated to a peripheral position. By careful attention to key texts, Jason establishes the importance of repentance as a fundamental way of structuring and describing religious experience within the Qumran community. Repentance was important not only for entry into the community and covenant but also for daily governance and cultic activities, and even for authenticating understanding of the end times. Jason shows, then, that repentance was a central and decisive element in shaping that community’s identity and undergirded its religous experience from the start. Further, comparison with relevant texts from the Apocrypha and pseudepigrapha shows that the Qumran community represented a distinctive penitential movement in Second Temple Judaism.
This book investigates Luke's message of salvation in relation to socio-economic issues, and thus concerns salvation of the rich as well as the poor. With a narrative reading of Luke's Gospel built on careful examination of its socio-economic context, it demonstrates that Luke's message of salvation is best understood as: 1) Divine mercy which champions the cause of the poor and redresses the injustice of the world, 2) Its human embodiment, and 3) Divine reward promised to those who enact mercy. Wi argues that Luke's question of 'what must we do?' juxtaposes salvation with 'doing', posing interesting questions with respect to the salvation of the rich. This volume highlights good news to the poor in terms of divine mercy and justice, shows that the reception of divine mercy calls for practices, which embody it, and above all clarifies Luke's notion of salvation of the rich which will happen as participation in the salvation of the poor. Wi's conclusion challenges its readers by asking the question along with Luke's audience: What must we do?
This volume combines a cultural guide to the biblical world and an annotated Bible. Its notes feature the reflections of Protestant, Roman Catholic, and Jewish scholars. * Twenty-three insightful articles on aspects of the history, literary background, and culture of the biblical era. * A special index of people, places, and themes of the Bible. * 36 pages of full-color New Oxford Bible Maps, with index.
The Hebrew of the Dead Sea Scrolls and the book of Ben Sira can be properly understood only in the light of all contemporary Second Temple period sources. With this in mind, 20 experts from Israel, Europe, and the United States convened in Jerusalem in December 2008. These proceedings of the Twelfth Orion Symposium and Fifth International Symposium on the Hebrew of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Ben Sira examine the Hebrew of the Second Temple period as reflected primarily in the Dead Sea Scrolls, the book of Ben Sira, Late Biblical Hebrew, and Mishnaic Hebrew. Additional contemporaneous sources—inscriptions, Greek and Latin transcriptions, and the Samaritan oral and reading traditions of the Pentateuch—are also noted.
The authors have asked of the documents of the Dead Sea Library found at Qumran a simple question: how does each participate in a single Judaic religious system? They propose a reading of the Scrolls from the hypothesis that all of them, in one way or another, rest upon one, authoritative, Judaism. Their analysis of the Dead Sea Scrolls describes how diverse writings hold together to make a single coherent statement, to stand for a religious system possessed of integrity and wisdom. This account of the world view of Judaism covers principal questions addressed to any Judaic religious system: the doctrine of God, the Torah, and matters of history, wisdom, and mysticism. When it comes to the way of life, they include the evidence of the material culture of the community as well as practical matters of religious conduct. How the community’s world view comes to realization is suggested by its treatment of the calendar, by its provision of laws that concern women, by questions of cultic and secular purity, by its piety and forms of worship and views of Temple, sacrifice, and the like. Finally, with the community’s definition of ‘Israel’ and of itself in relationship to ‘Israel’, inclusive of Israelites excluded from this ‘Israel’, an account is gained of the theory of who and what is Israel that animates the particular Judaism represented in these writings.
A major new work on the Dead Sea Scrolls, the oldest sacred documents of Judaism, which reveals their surprising connections to early Christianity. “A luminous treatment of a fascinating subject! Highly recommended!”—Scott Hahn, author of The Fourth Cup From award-winning scholar John Bergsma comes an intriguing book that reveals new insights on the Essenes, a radical Jewish community predating Christianity, whose existence, beliefs, and practices are often overlooked in the annuls of history. Bergsma reveals how this Jewish sect directly influenced the beliefs, sacraments, and practices of early Christianity and offers new information on how Christians lived their lives, worshipped, and eventually went on to influence the Roman Empire and Western civilization. Looking to Hebrew scripture and Jewish tradition, Bergsma helps to further explain how a simple Jewish peasant could go on to inspire a religion and a philosophy that still resonates 2,000 years later. In this enriching and exciting exploration, Bergsma demonstrates how the Dead Sea Scrolls—the world's greatest modern archaeological discovery—can shed light on the Church as a sacred society that offered hope, redemption, and salvation to its member. Ultimately, these mysterious writings are a time machine that can transport us back to the ancient world, deepen our appreciation of Scripture, and strengthen our understanding of the Christian faith. “An accessible introduction . . . This is a handy entry point for readers unfamiliar with Essenes or those interested in the Dead Sea Scrolls.”—Publishers Weekly
From the dramatic find in the caves of Qumran, the world's most ancient version of the Bible allows us to read the scriptures as they were in the time of Jesus.
