DSS.950117 Minutes, Dead Sea Scrolls Class, 17 Jan 1995 University of Pennsylvania, Religious Studies 225, Robert Kraft James Blankenship, recorder (edited RAK) On the first day of class, various administrative details necessarily occupied some of our attention. The initial assignment is for students to read through The Dead Sea Scrolls Today (by James VanderKam) and Responses to 101 Questions on the Dead Seas Scrolls (by Joseph A. Fitzmyer) as expeditiously as is practicable, then begin a critical (comparative) review of a third book from the list of works already circulated (and deposited on the class archive at the ccat gopher). Books not on that list may also be used with prior approval. The aim is to achieve a common level of knowledge about the Scrolls and their world before we begin to focus on reading them as such. Don't hesitate to ask questions about the material you read, using the email access. Four types of ancient literature will be most relevant to our discussion of the DSS (dated roughly from 2d BCE to 1 CE, found 1946-47). 1. *Biblical* works in a restricted sense come to be collected in the Jewish Scriptures (also known as the Hebrew Bible or TaNaKh, Protestant Christian "Old Testament") and are very important among the DSS for various reasons. Depending on who is dating, these works range from at least 7th BCE to as late as 2d BCE (some may argue that certain Psalms were added or supplemented even later). 2. The *Apocrypha* (sometimes also called "deuterocanonical" literature) refers to a collection of materials that came to be included in the "Old Testament" ("OT") of classical, pre-Protestant Christianity (Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox), but not in Jewish or Protestant Bibles. Most of the Apocrypha are entire books (e.g. Judith, Wisdom of Solomon, the Maccabees), but occasionally "additions" to the books of the Jewish Scriptures also are found among the Apocrypha (e.g. the stories of Susanna and "Bel and the Dragon" are included with Daniel). Depending on who is counting, the Apocrypha include approximately 14 books or portions of books usually dated from the 3d BCE through the period on which we will focus. The DSS also include fragments of some of these Jewish writings. 3. *Pseudepigrapha* ("falsely attributed writings") vary widely in date and content, and also are represented among the DSS remains. In general, pseudepigraphic works are written in the name of (or identified with) a respected ancient figure (Enoch, Moses, Jeremiah, etc.) which makes the work appear older and more worthy of respect. This is an open ended category, unlike the relatively fixed collections of Bible and Apocrypha described above. 4. If a writing found among the DSS doesn't comfortably fit into one of these three categories, and seems to reflect the ideas and practices of the DSS community itself, it may be labeled *Sectarian*. Such works are often thought to have originated within the community which kept the scrolls. (Writings that fall into none of the above categories are also possible, and we should be alert to the arbitrary nature of some of these classifications.) Additionally, in looking for materials that help us recreate the world that produced the DSS, we should be aware of certain works by Josephus and Philo, among others. Josephus (about 37 CE to after 100 CE) claims to have been a priest, as well as a general in the Jewish Rebellion against Rome which lasted from about 66 CE to 73 CE. (It was during this Rebellion, in 70 CE, that the Jewish "2d Temple" in Jerusalem was destroyed. 70 CE is therefore a very important, pivotal date used to determine the date of other events [e.g., "did _x_ occur before or after the destruction of the Temple?"].) Josephus spent his life after the rebellion in Rome under imperial sponsorship. Of Josephus' works, the following are especially important for us: 1. The Jewish War, written in the 80s CE. Josephus' most detailed effort to explain to his readers (Jewish and also Roman) how the rebellion of his people against Rome came about, and how he came to be a general for the Romans' opposition before he abandoned the Jewish military cause. 2. Antiquities (or, History) of the Jews, published around 100 CE. Josephus' effort to give a history from the beginning of the world down to his own time. The biblical period is covered in his account, and he provides information about Jewish history after that, for which we have few other sources. 3. Against Apion, also from about 100 CE. Josephus answers attacks made on Judaism by an opponent, and thus provides another perspective on Judaism and Jewish practices in the period from which the DSS come. At least twice, Josephus discusses Jewish subgroups ("sects" in a non-prejudicial sense); Pharisees, Sadduccees, Essenes, and at one point a "4th philosophy," usually identified with the "Zealots" (who may or may not be identical to the "Sicarii" that he also mentions). Josephus claims to have studied some of these groups as a youth, and in later life he claims to cultivate a Pharisaic orientation. The DSS are thought by many to have been produced and collected by Essenes. Philo was a native Greek speaker (unlike Josephus), and an Alexandrian Jew. The only firm contemporary date related by Philo in his voluminous writings is his account of his participation in an Embassy to Gaius (the Roman Emperor, Caligula) around 40 CE, in the wake of some anti-Jewish riots in Alexandria. Many conjecture that Philo lived from about 20 BCE - 45 CE. (Dr. Kraft is willing to let Philo live into the 60s CE.) Philo does not speak of the Pharisees or the Sadducees, but speaks very favorably of the Essenes, in terms similar to those in Josephus. The Essenes are also mentioned by Pliny the Elder, a non-Jewish Greek natural historian, geographer, and ethnographer who died in the aftermath of the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 CE. Historically and chronologically speaking, this course will most concern itself with the period from the time of the Jewish Hasmonean (Maccabean) Rebellion against the Greek Seleukids (in the 160's BCE) to the time of the Jewish Rebellion against Rome around 70 CE. Geographically, it will focus on the Syro-Palestinian corridor, but also with an eye on what was happening in Jewish circles throughout the eastern Mediterranean and the "fertile crescent." Next class will include a PBS Video on the DSS. /end DSS.950117/