Who Wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls?: The Search for the Secret of Qumran - Hardcover

Norman Golb

3.55

76 ratings by Goodreads

9780788159473: Who Wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls?: The Search for the Secret of Qumran

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 078815947X ISBN 13: 9780788159473

Publisher: Diane Pub Co, 1995

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A compelling new interpretation of the origin & meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Golb fundamentally challenges those who argue that the writings discovered at Qumran belonged to a small, desert-dwelling fringe sect. Instead, he shows why the scrolls must have been the work of many groups in ancient Judaism, kept in libraries in Jerusalem & smuggled out of the capital just before the Romans attacked in A.D. 70. He describes the scrolls' rich diversity of ideas, & offers a new interpretation of their significance for the evolution of both Judaism & Christianity. maps & illustrations.

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About the Author:

Dr. Norman Golb is the first holder of the Rosenberger Chair in Jewish History and Civilization at the University of Chicago.

From Booklist:

There has been a spate of new books about the Dead Sea scrolls since their recent "liberation" from the small group of scholars who were originally granted exclusive access to the historic documents. The prevalent theory among those first researchers was that the scrolls were the work of the Essenes, an ascetic sect that presumably had a settlement near where the scrolls were found. Golb, a professor of Jewish history and civilization at the University of Chicago, has a different theory. He claims that the scrolls were the work of many different groups and were moved to the Judaean wilderness during the Roman siege of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. He also argues that the supposed Essene monastery was actually a Jewish fortress. Golb's scholarly credentials are both a plus and a minus. He obviously has plenty of archaeological and historical evidence to back up his claims, but he also writes like an academician, and despite the book's catchy title and subtitle, it will take more than the casual reader to plow through Golb's dense prose. Public libraries that can only afford one scrolls tome should stick with Understanding the Dead Sea Scrolls (1992), edited by Hershel Shanks, but those with active religion or archaeology collections will want this one for its provocative assertions. Ilene Cooper

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