EXPLORING THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS

RELS 225 SPRING 2000

A Research Course with Robert A. Kraft

This web page will be under construction throughout the Spring Semester of 2000

NOTE this link to an example of the Index that is under construction. Comments on readability, style, and usability would be appreciated.

Send your comments to Sigrid Peterson

Examples of Student Research

Time References in the Dead Sea Scrolls

The Community of the Dead Sea Scrolls

The Place of Belial and the Sons of Darkness in the Dead Sea Scrolls

A Close Reading of the Hodayot and a Theory of their Authorship

A Study of the Identification of Self and of Other in the Rule of the Community (1QS) and in the War Scroll(1QM)

1.0 MYSTERY

The mystery of the Dead Sea Scrolls is many mysteries: Who were the people responsible for the burial of the scrolls? What was the purpose of the group of buildings at Khirbet Qumran ("Ruin of Qumran")? Is there any connection between the caves nearby and the Khirbeh ("Ruin")?

It is over fifty years since the discovery of scrolls near Qumran in the Dead Sea region of Israel, and these mysteries remain.

2.1 BACKGROUND

2.1.1 Location

The mysterious materials discovered in 1946 or 1947 near Khirbet Qumran had been found in a land attuned to the historical world called "the Ancient Near East." What to call the land is an academic problem; currently, in the year 2000, the area of Qumran is in the occupied West Bank, administered by Israel. At the time of the discovery, it was in a larger geographical division called Palestine, consisting of trust territories administered by Great Britain. At the time of the discovery, Great Britain proposed to give up the trust territories, and asked very new United Nations to determine what should become of the land. The UN Assembly voted, in November 1947, to partition the land into a Jewish area and an Arab area. As the discoveries were taking place, the fate of the land was being determined. The Dead Sea Area lay in the land assigned by the UN to Arab control, though it did not become part of the newly created Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. However, Jordan had, at various times, supervisory control over the area of Qumran and the rest of the West Bank.

2.1.2 Timelines from Gopherspace

There are several timelines available; a timeline can help give a sense of the sequence of historical events and associated problems and attitudes. There is one from the first year that Dr. Kraft taught the course on the next page.

2.1.3 Academic Bible Outline

2.1.4 The Ancient Near East

2.1.5 The Discovery

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3.1 TEXTS - BY GENRES

4.1 TEXTS - CHRONOLOGICALY

5.1 BOOKS AND BOOK REVIEWS

6.1 CONTRIBUTION

Bob Kraft's Home Page

Last updated on January 16, 2000 by Sigrid Peterson

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