Rels 225 Dead Sea Scrolls 
Minutes Thursday 9/5/96, by Eleni Zatz Litt

1. First assignment: Get familiar with electronic resources! One entry 
point is Bob Kraft's home page. (Editorial comment: it's GREAT!).

http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/rs/rak/kraft.html

Check information from Spring 95 when course was previously taught and 
begin lurking on ORION list and archives [see general information about 
the list in the electronic information for the course]

Also: check out "DSS Revealed" CD-ROM at MMETS (basement, Rittenhous Lab)

2. While DSS were discovered in late 1940s there has been a revival of 
interest in the past 6-7 years due, in part, to access to the 
materials; many "traditional" theories are now being challenged. An 
atmosphere of radical skepticism now surrounds this material.

3. In an ideal world we would approach the material completely inductively
by beginning with the manuscripts and with archaeological site reports
from which to build our own theories, but in the context of a one semester
course we will need to rely on secondary sources from the get go. 

4. Recommended Resources:
VanderKam: an excellent and balanced condensed overview
Fitzmyer: good supplement,  but approach is not linear/connected 
(use index and Table of Contents to pursue your own interests).
Garcia Martinez: the most complete of the available translations.
Vermes: Martinez's principal "rival," now in an updated edition.
Gaster: translation is intentionally interpretative ("free") and 
  sometimes idiosyncratic but useful in comparison with the others.
Schiffman: interesting for a compelling alternative view of the 
  material; in contrast to many earlier works which focused on issues 
  of Jewish varieties and conceptual differences (reflecting 
  especially "Christian" scholarly interests), Schiffman is one of the
  first to examine the DSS closely from a more traditional Jewish
  viewpoint, with special focus on law ("halakah") and practice.

5. DSS provide a "gigantic window on someone's Judaism(s)".  References in
the 1st century ce writings of Josephus, Philo and Pliny the Elder are all
useful for context and provided the basis for the older (and still dominant) 
theories suggesting that DSS were written by the Jewish group called 
"Essenes" -- and identification now under severe attack.

6. Worth noting: High levels of confusion can be expected to be produced
from the available scholarly discussions, and there will be a certain
amount of "disorganization" in the approach taken in class, to give ample
opportunity to discussing both the known and the many unknowns. We're 
"plunging into an abyss with few handles." 

7. There are interesting connections between politics and scholarship. 
There are also connections between archaeological digs and religious
sensitivities in some active elements of Israeli society -- for example,
concerns about excavating graves on the part of some orthodox Jews. 
Access to sites can be harder/easier depending on who owns the land. 
Access to DSS themselves has been much facilitated by Herschel Shanks and
his magazine called Biblical Archaeological Review (BAR); access really
opened only as recently as 1989.  The Huntington Library in California
played a crucial role in making available a set of photos that had been
deposited in its archives. 

8.  Most scrolls were found in caves 4 and 11, with the most complete from
cave 1 . Convention of how scrolls are names was explained -- 1QM = the
War scroll from Qumran cave 1. Vendyl Jones recently helped to identify
new sites in the Qumran area worth exploring based on ancient paths. 

9. There are interesting questions about  the relationship between the 
DSS materials and the community in Qumran. What is the nature of the 
ruins? Was Qumran a fort? a monastic Jewish community of Essenes? 
another type of Jewish community? Ostraca found this past summer have 
generated an exciting rumor: that one of the ostraca refers to the "Yahad" 
-- the same term for "community" as found in some of the scrolls. Question: 
was there self understanding that the Qumran inhabitants were a 
special sort of community such as some scrolls describe?

10. Dating of scrolls plays an important role in exploring connections
between site and the Qumran community. Handwriting analysis (paleography)
has found some significant support from recent carbon 14 dating, and more
recently some DNA testing has explored the origin of leather scroll
materials (i.e. whether from same or different flocks) to help determine
whether scrolls were manufactured by one community or came from many
sources. 

11. Much of the course will be conducted via email. Minutes will be 
distributed this way. Bob is available "anytime" via email and in Room 
413 (Duhring) when his schedule allows (previous warning is appreciated, 
although not absolutely necessary).

/end/