Introduction:
The topic, The Dead Sea Scrolls (A Jewish library collection) is what I have chosen to conduct my research project on. Religious issues and in particular the Dead Sea Scrolls are of particular interest to me. I have studied this topic before in secondary college as well as biblical issues and I am looking forward to delving into a research project that will further develop my interest in this area.
The topic, The Dead Sea Scrolls (A Jewish library collection) is what I have chosen to conduct my research project on. Religious issues and in particular the Dead Sea Scrolls are of particular interest to me. I have studied this topic before in secondary college as well as biblical issues and I am looking forward to delving into a research project that will further develop my interest in this area.
I plan to search the internet for information on the Dead
Sea Scrolls. I will conduct Google searches on the topic and slightly change my
search criteria to obtain many results. For example, I will not only search for
‘The Dead Sea Scrolls, a Jewish library collection’ but conduct other searches
such as ‘The Dead Sea Scrolls, educational resources’, ‘The Dead Sea Scrolls
enthusiast information’, ‘Podcasts of Dead Sea Scrolls’ and other searches
which will lead me to relevant information. I plan to find not only books on
this topic but journals/journal entries, video and audio recordings and
newspapers. I will look at online libraries also, such as The Jewish Virtual
Library.
I will visit the State Library and look for relevant
materials as well as visiting The Makor Library which is a Jewish Library
located in Caulfield South. I will also
visit the Theosophical Society Library, located in Melbourne, City. I expect
that I will find a lot of information regarding this topic. I will be taking
relevant notes and citing correct bibliographic details as I conduct the
research.
I am planning on also conducting an interview with a
contact that I have a t La Trobe University.
Or I will contact my Aunt who is an academic and an expert on religion, history of religion and conspiracy theories. I will record information that I retrieve.
Or I will contact my Aunt who is an academic and an expert on religion, history of religion and conspiracy theories. I will record information that I retrieve.
The main areas I will include in my research project are;
·
The Dead Sea Scrolls – A history, overview
·
The Dead Sea Scrolls – Exhibit (images and
videos)
·
The Dead Sea Scrolls - Conspiracy Theories
·
The Dead Sea Scrolls – And Christianity
·
The Dead Sea Scrolls – Relevance today
·
The Dead Sea Scrolls – Relevant links and
materials
I am sure that I will enjoy this project immensely and
that I will encounter an experience and a world of discovery. I expect that I
will have to ensure that I am following
the search criteria as outlined in this plan and that main areas are adhered
to.
History:
Muhammid’s discovery led to the finding of eleven other caves with scrolls as well as a habitation site. The site, a series of caves, a mountainous region and the desert itself is called the Qumran region. The area is 13 miles east of Jerusalem and is 1300 feet below sea level. Although the Qumran community existed during the time of the ministry of Jesus, none of the Scrolls refer to Him, nor do they mention any of His follower's described in the New Testament. Since the discovery, this region has been exhaustively excavated. This was between 1947 and 1956. In this time, between 825 and 870 separate scrolls were found. Most of the texts were in fragments and they were catalogued according to the number of the cave where they were found. Interestingly, cave number 1 and cave number 11 had the most intact manuscripts.
The scrolls can be divided into two categories, biblical and non biblical. Fragments of every Hebew Canon, (Old Testament) have been found excluding the Book of Esther. Among the scrolls there are 19 copies of the Book of Isaiah, 25 copies of Deuteronomy and 30 copies of the Psalms. The Scrolls have revolutionized textual criticism of the Old Testament. Interestingly, now with manuscripts predating the medieval period, we find these texts in substantial agreement with the Masoretic text as well as widely variant forms. The scrolls are the oldest manuscripts of the Old Testament found and the Book of Isaiah is thought to be 1000 years older than other Books of Isaiah. Prophecies by Ezekiel, Jeremiah and Daniel not found in the Bible are written in the Scrolls. Also not found before are Psalms written by King David and Joshua. The nonbiblical writings are paraphrases that expand on the Law, rule books of the community, war conduct, thanksgiving psalms, hymnic compositions, benedictions, liturgical texts, and sapiential (wisdom) writings.
The Scrolls appear to be the library of a Jewish sect. The library was hidden away in caves around the outbreak of the First Jewish Revolt (A.D. 66-70) as the Roman army advanced against the rebel Jews. The Dead Sea Scrolls were most likely written by the Essenes during the period from about 200 B.C. to 68 C.E./A.D. The Essenes are mentioned by Josephus and in a few other sources, but not in the New testament. The Essenes were a strict Torah observant, Messianic, apocalyptic, Baptist, wilderness, new covenant Jewish sect. They were led by a priest they called the "Teacher of Righteousness," who was opposed and possibly killed by the establishment priesthood in Jerusalem. The enemies of the Qumran community were called the "Sons of Darkness"; they called themselves the "Sons of Light," "the poor," and members of "the Way." They thought of themselves as "the holy ones," who lived in "the house of holiness," because "the Holy Spirit" dwelt with them.
Some of the Dead Sea Scrolls actually appeared for sale on June 1, 1954 in the Wall Street Journal. The advertisement read — "The Four Dead Sea Scrolls: Biblical manuscripts dating back to at least 200 BC are for sale. This would be an ideal gift to an educational or religious institution by an individual or group. Box F206."
The Dead Sea Scrolls enhance our knowledge of both Judaism and Christianity. They represent a non-rabbinic form of Judaism and provide a wealth of comparative material for New Testament scholars, including many important parallels to the Jesus movement. They show Christianity to be rooted in Judaism and have been called the evolutionary link between the two.
Exhibit:
History:
In the Winter of the year 1947, a young Bedouin hepherd boy is East of Jerusalem tending to his goats in the Judean
Desert. The desert, barren and unrelenting is a place for
mirage, an unsuspected place of discovery. For the young boy from the Ta'amireh
clans that resided in Bethlehem, on his
long journey enters a cave, uninhabited and untouched, to chase after one of
his stray goats. In the cave he discovers what has surprised and baffled
scholars and created a sense of wonder throughout the world. He in fact found
treasure in this cave, Ancient Scriptures
that date back to approximately two thousand years ago. The young boy whose
name was Muhammid Ahmed el-Hamed the finder of
secrets and the Ancient Hebrew Scriptures, the Dead Sea Scrolls resonate in the
hearts of many.
The young boy found many clay pots filled with scrolls
made from animal skin, but also papyrus and one of copper. They are written
with a carbon-based ink, from right to left, using no punctuation except for an
occasional paragraph indentation. In fact, in some cases, there are not even
spaces between the words. On the scrolls, stories from the Bible were
inscripted. This was a revelation and thought to be a miracle discovery. The
scriptures were written in three different languages, Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic. Although Hebrew
and Greek are spoken widely across the globe, the Aramaic language is spoken by
the people that live surrounding the Dead Sea.
Muhammid’s discovery led to the finding of eleven other caves with scrolls as well as a habitation site. The site, a series of caves, a mountainous region and the desert itself is called the Qumran region. The area is 13 miles east of Jerusalem and is 1300 feet below sea level. Although the Qumran community existed during the time of the ministry of Jesus, none of the Scrolls refer to Him, nor do they mention any of His follower's described in the New Testament. Since the discovery, this region has been exhaustively excavated. This was between 1947 and 1956. In this time, between 825 and 870 separate scrolls were found. Most of the texts were in fragments and they were catalogued according to the number of the cave where they were found. Interestingly, cave number 1 and cave number 11 had the most intact manuscripts.
The scrolls can be divided into two categories, biblical and non biblical. Fragments of every Hebew Canon, (Old Testament) have been found excluding the Book of Esther. Among the scrolls there are 19 copies of the Book of Isaiah, 25 copies of Deuteronomy and 30 copies of the Psalms. The Scrolls have revolutionized textual criticism of the Old Testament. Interestingly, now with manuscripts predating the medieval period, we find these texts in substantial agreement with the Masoretic text as well as widely variant forms. The scrolls are the oldest manuscripts of the Old Testament found and the Book of Isaiah is thought to be 1000 years older than other Books of Isaiah. Prophecies by Ezekiel, Jeremiah and Daniel not found in the Bible are written in the Scrolls. Also not found before are Psalms written by King David and Joshua. The nonbiblical writings are paraphrases that expand on the Law, rule books of the community, war conduct, thanksgiving psalms, hymnic compositions, benedictions, liturgical texts, and sapiential (wisdom) writings.
The Scrolls appear to be the library of a Jewish sect. The library was hidden away in caves around the outbreak of the First Jewish Revolt (A.D. 66-70) as the Roman army advanced against the rebel Jews. The Dead Sea Scrolls were most likely written by the Essenes during the period from about 200 B.C. to 68 C.E./A.D. The Essenes are mentioned by Josephus and in a few other sources, but not in the New testament. The Essenes were a strict Torah observant, Messianic, apocalyptic, Baptist, wilderness, new covenant Jewish sect. They were led by a priest they called the "Teacher of Righteousness," who was opposed and possibly killed by the establishment priesthood in Jerusalem. The enemies of the Qumran community were called the "Sons of Darkness"; they called themselves the "Sons of Light," "the poor," and members of "the Way." They thought of themselves as "the holy ones," who lived in "the house of holiness," because "the Holy Spirit" dwelt with them.
Some of the Dead Sea Scrolls actually appeared for sale on June 1, 1954 in the Wall Street Journal. The advertisement read — "The Four Dead Sea Scrolls: Biblical manuscripts dating back to at least 200 BC are for sale. This would be an ideal gift to an educational or religious institution by an individual or group. Box F206."
The
major intact texts, from Caves 1 & 11, were published by the late fifties
and are now housed in the Shrine of
the Book museum in
Jerusalem. Since the late fifties, about
40% of the Scrolls, mostly fragments from Cave 4, remained unpublished and
were not accessible. It wasn't until
1991, 44 years after the discovery of the first Scroll, after the pressure for
publication mounted, that general access was made available to photographs of
the Scrolls. In November of 1991 the photos were published by the
Biblical Archaeological Society in a nonofficial edition; a computer
reconstruction, based on a concordance,
was announced; the Huntington Library
pledged to open their microfilm files of all the scroll photographs.
The Dead Sea Scrolls enhance our knowledge of both Judaism and Christianity. They represent a non-rabbinic form of Judaism and provide a wealth of comparative material for New Testament scholars, including many important parallels to the Jesus movement. They show Christianity to be rooted in Judaism and have been called the evolutionary link between the two.
Exhibit:
Conspiracy Theories:
And Christianity:
Relevance Today:
Conclusion:
Bibliography:
Ayala Sussman and Ruth Peled 1993, Scrolls from the dead
sea, Library of Congress, viewed 17th May2012, www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/deadsea.htm
Dr James D Tabor 1998, The jewish roman world of jesus, viewed
17th May 2012, http://religiousstudies.uncc.edu/people/jtabor/DSSEssay.htm
Dead
sea scrolls timetable, Gnostic Society Library, viewed 17th
May 2012, http://www.gnosis.org/library/dss/dss_timeline.htm
Gary and Stephanie Loveless 2012, Dead sea scrolls and
the bible: ancient artefacts, timeless treasures, viewed 18th May
2012, http://www.seethescrolls.com/educational-resources
Eric Mitchell 2010, A brief history of the dead sea
scrolls, Southwestern Journal of Theology, viewed 19th May 2012, http://www.baptisttheology.org/documents/ABriefHistoryoftheDeadSeaScrolls-Mitchell.pdf
Fascinating
facts: 25 dead sea scrolls about the discovery at qumran, Century
One Bookstore, viewed 19th May 2012, http://www.centuryone.com/25dssfacts.html
