This volume presents the proceedings of an international conference of the same title held at the University of Birmingham in 2007. The contributors are drawn from the ranks of leading international specialists in the field writing alongside promising younger scholars. The volume includes studies on the contribution of the Scrolls to Second Temple Jewish history, the archaeological context, the role of the Temple and its priesthood, as well as treatments on selected texts and issues. These proceedings offer a timely and up to date assessment of the Dead Sea scrolls and the material remains unearthed at Qumran in their wider context and not infrequently challenge prevailing lines of interpretation"

Online version of an exhibition held at the Library of Congress from June 17 to July 16, 1992.

Between 1947 and 1956 thousands of fragments of biblical and early Jewish documents were discovered in eleven caves near the site of Khirbet Qumran on the shores of the Dead Sea. These important texts have revolutionized our understanding of the way the Bible was transmitted, and have illuminated the general cultural and religious background of ancient Palestine, out of which both Rabbinic Judaism and Christianity arose.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 245-261) and indexes.
Contents:The study of Qumran -- The origin of the scrolls : Qumran or Jerusalem? -- The archaeology of Qumran -- The estate of Qumran at 'Ein Feshkha -- Qumran in context : the Dead Sea Valley in the

Because the Dead Sea Scrolls include the earliest known manuscripts of the Bible as well as Jewish documents composed just after the Hebrew biblical period, they contain a gold mine of information about the history of Judaism and the early roots and background of Christianity. Schiffman refocuses the controversy from who controls access to the Scrolls today to what the Scrolls tell us about the past....

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