DSS.950228 Class Minutes #13, 28 February 1995
Religious Studies 225, Dead Sea Scrolls, Robert Kraft
Recorded by Lance "Sleeper" Allred and Hunter "Swimmer" Powell


Administrative and Preliminary Matters 

The Garcia Martinez book has arrived (the red cover book of 
English translations). If you want to be a overachiever you 
should read ahead during spring break. Start at the start with 
the major sectarian texts (Manual of Discipline = 1QS, Damascus 
Document = CD), after which we will move on to escatalogical 
material (War Scroll = 1QM), and the "para-biblical" materials. 

Dr. Kraft had a brief show-and-tell period in which he showed off his 
small "souvenir type" replica of the Manual of Discipline and 
it's storage jar. He also put in a small plug by passing around 
the recent "Discoveries in the Judean Desert" volume on the Greek 
Minor Prophets scroll by Emanuel Tov, with collaboration by RAK. 
We were also reminded of the correct spelling of VanderKam and 
Fitzmyer, for reporting purposes. 

Some "cleanup" questions ensued, as usual. 

An attempt was made, again, to clarify some archeological aspects 
of the Qumran site and the caves. Kraft reminded us that there 
are many caves in the Qumran area, but only eleven had written 
material included in the designation "DSS." The caves could have 
been used for a variety of things, including habitation in some. 
Kraft talked about the use of Carbon-14 dating of the scrolls, 
and reminded us that this method can tell us when the tested 
organic material (linen, leather, papyrus) began to be produced, 
but it cannot necessarily tell us when the document was written 
(e.g. leather hides collected decades earlier might be used at a 
later date). The possibilities of DNA testing set the class off 
onto a rampant discussion as to the chances of finding the 
ancient location and even the modern descendants of animals that 
were used for the leather of the DSS (including non inscribed 
leather such as straps, sandals, etc.), or at least identifying 
fragments that came from the hide of the same animal. The class 
remained on this topic for a good twenty minutes, with such 
random comments as "we could open another Jurassic Park!" 

Kraft reminded us that although he might hesitate to identify the 
DSS composers/users as "Essenes," he does recognize that the 
scrolls evidence certain "Essene" characteristics similar to 
those described by Josephus and Philo. The producers of the DSS 
don't call themsevles Essenes, although they have various other 
self-designations including (as Sigrid has just informed Lance 
and Hunter) The Ya{.h}ad (the community). It is possible that 
"Essene" was a designation used mainly by outsiders to describe a 
type of outlook characteristic of various similar groups in the 
area. 


The Main Topic: Controversies

In the first decade of the DSS discoveries, many controversies 
already surrounded the scrolls, as discussed especially by Millar 
Burrows (<t>The DSS</> [1955] and <t>More Light on the DSS</> 
[1957]). Solomom Zeitlin wrote many articles claiming that the 
DSS were at best, medieval hoaxes, to be understood in relation 
to movements such as the Karaites. His student, J. Teicher, 
acknowledged that the scrolls were older than that, but 
interpreted them as products of early "Jewish Christian" concerns 
and developments (see, more recently, Robert Eisenman). John 
Allegro, in his rise to noteriety, even suggested that the 
"teacher of righteousness" had been crucified and was expected to 
be resurrected, as a sort of prefigurement of what would later be 
claimed for Jesus (see also J. Dupont-Sommer). 

A special sidelight also associated with Allegro is "the Shapira 
Affair": A Russian Jew by the name of W. M. Shapira moved to 
Jeruselem around 1856 and opened an antiquities shop. He was 
selling things as "Moabite" artifacts and a French scholar said 
that they were fake. Some years later, in the 1870s, Shapira 
obtained 15 leather strips from a Bedouin, who claimed to have 
found them near the shore of the Dead Sea, containing what 
Shapira determined to be Hebrew text of the book of Deuteronomy. 
He took these stips to London where they were authenticated and 
put on display in the British Museum. Once on display, the same 
Frenchman came along and declared them to be fakes; the exibit 
was taken down and the artifacts were sold very cheaply. Shapira, 
disgraced, committed suicide. Allegro asks if perhaps these were 
authentic "DSS" type materials, in his book on the subject. The 
current whereabouts of these Shapira materials is unknown, if 
they have survived at all. 
 
(to be continued)

//end dss.950228//