================================================================== @@@@@ @@@@@ @@@@@ @ @ @ @ Werlin on @ @ @@@@@ @@@@@ Spring Burrows @ @ @ @ 1995 @ @ @ @ @@@@@@ @@@@@@ @@@@@@ ================================================================== R E V I E W S ================================================================== Dead Sea Scroll Book Reviews, for Religious Studies 225 University of Pennsylvania, Robert Kraft, Spring Term 1995 Copyright by the respective authors; reproduction with appropriate credits is permitted. [[NOTE: The assignment was to summarize the reviewed book and to compare it especially with the textbooks used in the course, by James VanderKam The Dead Sea Scrolls Today (Eerdmans/SPCK 1994) and Joseph Fitzmyer Responses to 101 Questions on the Dead Sea Scrolls (Paulist Press 1992). As with this note, any comments by the course instructor are enclosed in double brackets below.]] ----- Millar Burrows, The Dead Sea Scrolls. London: Secker & Warburg, 1956. More Light on the Dead Sea Scrolls. New York: The Viking Press, 1958. These two books by Millar Burrows, [[professor of Near Eastern Studies at Yale University and a major participant in the identification and early study of the DSS]], were among the first crop of scholarship which attempted to review the mass of research generated by the DSS. I will treat both volumes together, without distinguishing between the two of them because they are essentially different parts of the same work. They are identical in style and method, and each one complements the other. Burrows' books on the DSS are engagingly written. Without bewildering the intelligent layperson, B manages thoroughly to cover all the important facets of DSS investigation. B discusses the history behind the discovery and acquisition of the DSS. He delves into the arguments concerning the age of the manuscripts and the dates of their composition. Carefully, B covers the various techniques used, and, in the end, presents his well reasoned best guess conclusions (he is careful to stress the relative difficulty of establishing certainty). He devotes considerable space to the particulars of the scrolls: what beliefs and practices do they describe? He tries a hand at the still hotly disputed question of the identity of the DSS community. Who were they? where did they live? what is their history? He summarizes the scholarship to date and presents his own synthesis. Burrows also spends much space explaining the relationships between the DSS and the Jewish and Christian Scriptures. Closely connected to this, B discusses what light the DSS provide for the study of Second Temple Judaism and early Christianity. Burrows also provides his own translations for many of the scrolls, translations which are cited by Garcia-Martinez in his recent The Dead Sea Scrolls Translated. [[check -- what does this mean?]] I love this set of books, and I am having difficulty trying to think of criticisms. Burrows is thorough. His bibliography is extensive, as is the list of scholars and articles directly mentioned and discussed in the body of the work. [[Of course, this material has swelled exponentially subsequently!]] Burrows is objective. He cites everybody. He gives all opinions a fair shake and meticulously analyzes them. His conclusions are methodical and based upon the best information at his disposal. He is willing, almost eager, to admit that evidence is inconclusive and that more work is necessary. It is quite interesting to note that there are few serious hypotheses around today, nearly 4 decades later, that are not treated by B. Although new evidence has come to light, it has merely served as additional ammunition for conflicts long since joined. This makes B's work valuable despite the time that has passed since its publication. This is important to consider when comparing B's scholarship to contemporary works. I would consider The Dead Sea Scrolls and More Light on the Dead Sea Scrolls to be superior to VanderKam's The Dead Sea Scrolls Today. Bluntly put, V is textbook boring, and because of the relative shortness of his book, he has to skim over many fascinating subjects. Burrows, on the other hand, is exciting to read. He doesn't ignore the minutiae of the DSS when it is relevant, but, more importantly, he is in no rush to expound his thoughts. I personally got a much greater feel for how the process of DSS research is undertaken through reading B. Although it involves considerably more reading, the reward is well worth the negligible extra effort. Two storage jars up for this excellent and enduring work! Daniel Werlin dwerlin@mail.sas.upenn.edu