Learning Objectives

Upon successful completion you should be able to:

• Describe several features of the Qumran archaeological site

• Explain how the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls led to changes in modern translations in, for instance, Isa 53:11 and Psa 145:13

• Identify the likely occupants of Qumran

• Place the Qumranites in their historical context in the Second Temple period

• Explain why there are no New Testament texts among the Dead Sea Scrolls

• Describe some of the core beliefs and practices of the community at Qumran

• Recognize four red flags for identifying forged Dead Sea Scroll fragments

• Compare and contrast the “find stories” of Dead Sea Scrolls and Nag Hammadi texts

• Gain insight into Jesus’s and His disciples’ Jewish culture

• Critically reflect on the impact of perspective when we assess ancient artifacts

• Discuss the importance of the apocryphal and pseudepigraphic Dead Sea Scrolls for our understanding of the Bible and its context

• Better understand what Luke meant when he said Mary “treasured these things in her heart”

• Explain the work of ancient scribes, including how they interpreted authoritative texts

• Describe the sad demise of the Qumran community

Course Outline

Introduction

• Introducing the Speaker and the Course

• How to Read a Dead Sea Scroll

Unit 1: First Impressions: Lens of the Cave 1 Discoveries

• Puzzle of the Dead Sea Scrolls

• Backstory of the Bible through the Isaiah Scroll

• Early Patterns of Biblical Commentary: Pesher Habakkuk

• Retelling Scripture in the Genesis Apocryphon

• Community Ideas and Identity in the Community Rule

• Prayer and Praise in the Hodayot

• Eschatological Outlook in the War Scroll

Unit 2: Dead Sea Scrolls Discovery: Modern Takes Blur Fact and Fiction

• Introduction

• Scrolls Obscured by Time and Legend

• Minority Reports: Discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls

• Story That Stood the Test of Time

• Nag Hammadi Texts

• Qumran and Nag Hammadi: Shared Plots and Motifs

• Discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls: Finding the First Scrolls

• Discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls: Buying and Selling Scrolls

• Discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls: Scrolls on the Move

• Discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls: Discovering Move Caves

• Discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls: Publication and Ownership

Unit 3: Artifacts or Souvenirs? Forgeries in Modern Collections

• Artifacts: Three Important Criteria

• Inventories of So-Called Dead Sea Scroll Fragments

• Red Flags for Identifying Forgeries: Biblical Text

• Red Flags for Identifying Forgeries: Theological Passages

• Red Flags for Identifying Forgeries: New Readings

• Red Flags for Identifying Forgeries: A Flooded Market

• Scribal Features of Suspicious Fragments

Unit 4: Second Temple History, Culture, and Politics

• Why the Second Temple Period Matters for the Bible

• What Is the Second Temple?

• From Persian to Hellenistic Rule

• Ptolemies and Seleucids

• Seleucid King Antiochus IV Epiphanes

• Maccabean Revolt

• Hasmonean Dynasty

• The Herodians and the Toppling of the Second Temple

Unit 5: Qumran Archaeology: Implications for Religious Thought, Practice

• Setting the Context for Qumran Archaeology

• Finding Qumran on a Map

• Roland de Vaux’s Qumran Site Chronology: Phase 1

• Roland de Vaux’s Qumran Site Chronology: Phases 2 and 3

• Jodi Magness’s Revised Chronology

• Digital Representations of Qumran Archaeology

• Death, Cemetery, and Qumran Demographics

• Privacy and Purity of Toilet Practices in Qumran

Unit 6: Qumran Identities: Jewish Groups, Movements, Demographics

• Sources and Settings for Ancient Jewish Groups

• Profile of Josephus

• Profile of Philo of Alexandria

• Jewish Groups in Pliny the Elder and the New Testament

• Afterlife: Pharisees and Qumranites

• Family Marriage Practices: Pharisees vs. Qumranites

• Pharisaic Code Names in the Dead Sea Scrolls

• Purity Practices Related to the Sadducees

• Sadducees: Angelology and Scope of Scripture

• Qumran Code Names for the Sadducees

• Essene Connection: Geography

• Essene Connection: Community Demographics

• Essene Connection: Community Structures

Unit 7: Hallmark Items of Qumran Thought

• Contours of Qumran Thought and Practice

• Community Structure and Scriptural Past

• Dualism and Community Hierarchy

• Founding a Community, Focusing on a Calendar

• Liturgy without the Temple

• Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice

• Apocalyptic Community

• Patterns of Dualism in Key Sectarian Texts

• Calendar and Torah Interpretation

Unit 8: Beyond Qumran: Aramaic Dead Sea Scrolls

• What Are the Aramaic Dead Sea Scrolls?

• Narrative Outlooks and Statistics

• Apocalyptic Time in the Aramaic Four Kingdoms

• First-Person Voices and Marriage in the Visions of Amram

• From Qumran to China with the Book of Giants

Unit 9: Scribes, Scrolls, and Scriptures

• From the Old Testament to Hebrew Scriptures

• What Do We Mean by the Term Bible?

• Masoretic Text, Septuagint, and Samaritan Pentateuch

• Theories of Text Development for the Old Testament

• New Word from Isaiah 53:11

• New Sentence from Psalm 145:13

• Paragraph from 1 Samuel 10:27

• How Tall Was Goliath in 1 Samuel 17:4?

• Rethinking Scribal Errors in Jeremiah

• Text Criticism and Non-Biblical Texts in Psalm 11:2

Unit 10: Evolution of Scriptural Interpretation

• Scriptural Interpretation before the Bible

• Boundary between Text and Interpretation in 4QPentateuch

• Rewriting Scriptures in the Genesis Apocryphon

• External Interpretation of Scripture in the Pesher Isaiah

• Blended Interpretations in 4Q Commentaries on Genesis

Unit 11: Rethinking Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha

• Writings outside the Bible

• What Is the Apocrypha?

• What Is the Pseudepigrapha?

• Tobit and the Dead Sea Scrolls

• Aramaic Levi and the Dead Sea Scrolls

Unit 12: Dead Sea Scrolls and Second Temple Context of Early Christianity

• Problems with Parallels between Qumran and Christianity

• Are There New Testament Writings in the Dead Sea Scrolls?

• Did the Dead Sea Scrolls Mention Jesus?

• Messianic Frameworks in the Dead Sea Scrolls

• Exegesis and Resurrection in 4Q521 and the Synoptics

• Mary’s Amazement and Response to Ancient Jewish Revelation

• Works of the Law in Paul and 4QMMT

Conclusion

• Only a Beginning
  
  

Details

• Title: AR305 The Dead Sea Scrolls

• Instructor: Andrew Perrin

• Publisher: Lexham Press

• Publication Date: 2020

• Product Type: Logos Mobile Education

• Resource Type: Courseware, including transcripts, audio, and video resources

• Courses: 1

• Video Hours: 12