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Title: The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English (Penguin Classics)
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Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
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| The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English (Penguin Classics) by Penguin Classics Excellent Way to Find Out About Jewish Culture/Practices of That Time | I do not usually write reviews, but going through this book answered a lot of questions for me and I thought it might be helpful for other strictly lay people like me to know how much I have liked reading through different sections of it.
Though I had a complete, rather progressive, Jewish education as a child, what is in the Dead Sea Scrolls was not really covered. As it is fragments of different scrolls, I do not know if it can be called a history - but it is historical - and I enjoyed reading about the civilization and their rules/practices of living - both religious and secular.
Especially with many of the religious discussions heard these days of the Messiah -- the Messianic statements - i.e. The Messianic Rule, The War Scroll, The War Scroll from Cave 4, The Book of War, A Messianic Apocalypse -- are very useful in bringing into focus a real Jewish perspective of that time of what was expected for the coming of the Messiah and the Kingdom of God -- and the Covenant with God.
I really enjoyed the introductions and explanations by Geza Vermes. | | The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English (Penguin Classics) by Penguin Classics Like reading King James Version of the Bible | | This is an outstanding translation. But you should know that it's written in the language of the King James Version with Thou's, Thee's and Thy's. That make it a little less meaningful for me personally. | | The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English (Penguin Classics) by Penguin Classics The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls In English | | Unfortunately I have not had the time to really read through this book, but I needed it for a 2-week early Judaism course. What I have been able to read has been beneficial to my education regarding the history of the Jewish people and Jewish religion. | | The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English (Penguin Classics) by Penguin Classics Rifts In Interpretation | Dissertations that devote themselves almost wholly and completely to discussing the Nag Hammadi and Gnostic Gospels, or the New Testament should probably be dismissed out of hand, as they are only marginally related to the Dead Sea Scrolls. The Dead Sea Scrolls have nothing in common with any Gospels or New Testament works, except that the DSS are antecedent to them. The Gospels were to the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Bible what New Age is to Quantum Physics. The Dead Sea Scrolls ended very close in time to when the first Gospels or New Testament works began to appear. Perhaps Jesus knew or visited the Essenes; perhaps He was a card carrying member. He certainly was a contemporary to Qumran's final few decades, minus about 30 years. But, the Essenes were not Christians.There are a good many DSS fragments that are antagonistic to men who proclaimed themselves to be the Sons of God, as it was conservative Jewish thinking then, and remains so today. Also, Vermes does not make any connection whatsoever between the Teacher of Righteousness, a completely different personality who lived somewhere earlier than about 130 B.C.E., to Jesus. Reviews that go on at length about that so-called connection are an indication that the reviewer has not read "The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls In English".
As I read more cross sections of the popular works, I come to appreciate the differences in interpretations between scholars. I see there is serious distance between the interpretations of Geza Vermes and Robert Eisenman. The interpretation of 4Q448 is a major source of contention between the two scholars.
In another book, "The Dead Sea Scrolls Uncovered", Robert Eisenman and Michael Wise use their interpretation of 4Q448 as evidence, even proof, that the origins of the Qumran community were not Essene. Eisenman labels 4Q448 "Paean For King Jonathan (Alexander Jannaeus - 4Q448)" Eisenman says, "This clearly disproves the Essene theory of Qumran origins at least as classically conceived." The reason given is that the so-called "King Jonathan" was the very same "Wicked Priest" refered to in the pre-Christian era scrolls. This belief is mirrored in yet another popular book, "The Dead Sea Scrolls", which is again co-edited by Michael Wise (Wise, Abegg, Cook), and calls the piece "In Praise of King Jonathan". So you see, a single DSS fragment has already been interpreted slightly differently in three different popular publications. I'm sure the Florentino Garcia-Martinez book may fall into either of these camps, I shall have to look for it. I enjoy all of these lay publications, and find that sampling from all of them enriches my cumulative understanding of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Incidentally, the Eisenman/Wise and Wise/Abegg/Cook books tend to expostulate connections or continuity with the New Testament, but those connections are tenuous, and as Vermes points out in this book, controverted by the greater body of evidence that the Essenes eschewed any man who claimed to be the Son of God. There is, by the way, a DSS fragment called by Wise/Abegg/Cook "A Vision of the Son of God" (4Q246).
By sharp contrast to the Eisenman/Wise publications, Vermes thinks that the King Jonathan to whom this very brief and singular fragment refers is Jonathan Maccabeus, and other interpretors are only incorrectly assuming it is a reference to Alexander Jannaeus. Vermes labels the fragment "Poetic Fragments on Jerusalem and 'King Jonathan'". Vermes identifies the poem with Jonathan Maccabeus "at the start of his political-military career, when he was celebrated as the liberator of the Jews and of Jerusalem, and link this text to the statement of the Habakkuk Commentary in viii, 8-9, concerning the good behavior, 'when he first arose' of the ruler who was to become the Wicked Priest."
Both of my own references here are taken from the 2004 editions of each of these books, "The Dead Sea Scrolls Uncovered" (Eisenman/Wise), and "The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls In English" (Vermes), respectively. I am not knowledgeable enough on the subject to say who is right. I prefer the Essene theory, based on Occam's Razor. It is simple, well fortified with obvious and abounding supportive provenance, and the converse theory (Qumran was other than Essene) is a bit stretched and fringe, even 'New Age', it seems to me. It is interesting that in the Eisenman/Wise book, there is no bibliographic or index reference to the Vermes' book. It's as if Eisenman/Wise are totally ignoring Vermes's work on the subject. How catty! How petty! They completely ignore the work of a major scholar, with a great many publications on Dead Sea Scrolls interpretations? Ah, well...On the other hand, Vermes makes "generous" direct references to the Eisenman/Wise book, as well as directly controverting the Eisenman reference square-on as insubstantial. It's as if Vermes is saying, "I'll show you! I'll take the high road, and I will mention your book, no matter how wrong you guys may be, in my own book." A couple of months ago, I would not have known the difference between the two editors' points of view. If you keep pecking away at the subject, you're bound to improve your quality of understanding. I'm glad I am at a point where I can start to recognize differences between the different scholars, all based on my own independant studies. | | The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English (Penguin Classics) by Penguin Classics Literary Armageddon | Nearly all knowledgeable Biblical scholars realize there have been a wide range of writings attributed to Jesus and his Apostles..... and that some of these were selected for compilation into the book that became known as the Bible.....and that some books have been removed from some versions of the Bible and others have been re-discovered in modern times.
The attention focused on Gnosticism by Dan Brown's DaVinci Code may be debatable, but the fact is that increased attention on academics tends to be predominately positive, so I welcome those with first-time or renewed interest. At least first-timers to Gnosticism are not pursuing the oh-so-popular legends of the Holy Grail, Bloodline of Christ, and Mary Magdalene.
This is great......I seldom quote other reviewers, but there is one reviewer of Pagels' books who confided that he had been a Jesuit candidate and had been required to study a wide range of texts but was never was told about the Nag Hamadi texts. He said:
"Now I know why. The Gospel of Thomas lays waste to the notion that Jesus was `the only begotten Son of God' and obviates the need for a formalized church when he says, `When your leaders tell you that God is in heaven, say rather, God is within you, and without you.' No wonder they suppressed this stuff! The Roman Catholic Church hasn't maintained itself as the oldest institution in the world by allowing individuals to have a clear channel to see the divinity within all of us: they need to put God in a bottle, label the bottle, put that bottle on an altar, build a church around that altar, put a sign over the door, and create rubricks and rituals to keep out the dis-believing riff-raff. Real `Us' versus `them' stuff, the polar opposite from `God is within You.' `My God is bigger than your God' the church(s)seem to say. And you can only get there through "my" door/denomination. But Jesus according to Thomas had it right: just keep it simple, and discover the indwelling Divinity `within you and without you.'"
Here are quickie reviews of what is being bought these days on the Gnostic Gospels and the lost books of the Bible in general:
The Lost Books of the Bible (0517277956) includes 26 apocryphal books from the first 400 years that were not included in the New Testament.
Marvin Meyers' The Secret Teachings of Jesus : Four Gnostic Gospels (0394744330 ) is a new translation without commentary of The Secret Book of James, The Gospel of Thomas, The Book of Thomas, and The Secret Book of John.
James M. Robinson's The Nag Hammadi Library in English : Revised Edition (0060669357) has been around 25 years now and is in 2nd edition. It has introductions to each of the 13 Nag Hammadi Codices and the Papyrus Berioinensis 8502.
The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English (0140278079) by Geza Vermes has selected works....a complete work is more difficult to achieve than the publisher's marketing concept indicates. His commentary generates strong reactions.
Elaine Pagels has 2 books (The Gnostic Gospels 0679724532 and Beyond Belief : The Secret Gospel of Thomas 0375501568) that have received considerable attention lately. For many, her work is controversial in that it is written for popular consumption and there is a strong modern interpretation. She does attempt to reinterpret ancient gender relationships in the light of modern feminist thinking. While this is a useful (and entertaining) aspect of college women's studies programs, it is not as unethical as some critics claim. As hard as they may try, all historians interpret the past in the context of the present. Obviously there is value in our attempts to re-interpret the past in the light of our own time.
If you want the full scholarly work it is W. Schneemelcher's 2 volume New Testament Apocrypha.
| | The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English (Penguin Classics) by Penguin Classics Product Description | | The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in the Judean desert between 1947 and 1956 was one of the greatest archaeological finds of all time. Hidden in the caves at Qumran by the Essenes, a Jewish sect in existence before and during the time of Jesus, the Scrolls have transformed our understanding of the Hebrew Bible, early Judaism, and the origins of Christianity. This fully revised edition of the classic English translation by Geza Vermes, the world’s leading scholar on the subject, offers an astonishing look into the organization, customs, and beliefs of the community at Qumran. Enhanced by much previously unpublished material and a new preface, this will remain the authoritative translation of the Dead Sea Scrolls for years to come. | | The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English (Penguin Classics) by Penguin Classics Amazon.com | | It's been 50 years since a Bedouin youth named Muhammed edh-Dhub went looking for a stray sheep and instead found the Dead Sea Scrolls. In the intervening decades, the scrolls have been enveloped in a storm of controversy and bitter conflict: the scholars entrusted with translating and editing the texts sat on many of them instead, creating suspicions that escalated to conspiracy theories about supposed cover-ups of sensitive, even damaging material. Geza Vermes, a former professor of Jewish studies at Oxford and a noted authority on the scrolls, marks the 50th anniversary of Muhammed edh-Dhub's find with his book The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English; the title, however, is misleading, for the collection of documents is by no means complete. Vermes has left out the copies of Hebrew scriptures that are available elsewhere, instead focusing on the sectarian writings of the Essene community at Qumran and the intertestemental texts, and these are indeed complete translations. Vermes has also included an overview of five decades of research on the scrolls and a thumbnail sketch of the Qumran community's history and religion. For anyone interested in biblical history, The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English is a worthwhile read. |
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