Jesus & the Riddle of the Dead Sea Scrolls: Unlocking the Secrets of His Life Story [Qumran; Home of the Scrolls; Christian Connections; A Question of Dates; The Pesher Technique; The Empire of the Jews; "The Ransom for One's Soul" --Exiles in the Wilderness; The Virgin Birth; Born to be King?; Joseph in "Egypt"; The Prodigal Son; Jesus the Young Man; John the Baptist; Jesus the Man; The Twelve Apostles; "He Has Beelzebul"; Mary Magdalene; Miraculous Feedings and Walking on Water; The Day of Atonement; Raising Lazarus; Thirty Pieces of Silver; The Last Supper; Arrest and Trial; The Crucifixion; A Death that Failed; Inside the Cave; The Appearances; Kings and Governors; "At the Right Hand of God"; 3Saul the Indignant Student; 3Assassination

Thiering, B. E. (Barbara Elizabeth)

ISBN 10: 0060677821 / ISBN 13: 9780060677824

Published by [San Francisco, Calif.] : HarperSanFrancisco, c1992., 1992

About this Item

1st HarperCollins ed ; xi, 451 p. : ill., map ; 24 cm. ; ISBN 9780060677824, 9780060682866, 0060677821, 0060682868 ; OCLC 26026179 ; LCCN 91059043 ; LC BT205 .T54 1992 ; Dewey 232.9/01 ; grey cloth in color illustrated dustjacket ; Contents: 1. Qumran -- Home of the Scrolls -- 2. Christian Connections -- 3. A Question of Dates -- 4. The Pesher Technique -- 5. The Empire of the Jews -- 6. "The Ransom for One's Soul" --7. Exiles in the Wilderness -- 8. The Virgin Birth -- 9. Born to be King? -- 10. Joseph in "Egypt" -- 11. The Prodigal Son -- 12. Jesus the Young Man -- 13. John the Baptist -- 14. Jesus the Man -- 15. The Twelve Apostles -- 16. "He Has Beelzebul" -- 17. Mary Magdalene -- 18. Miraculous Feedings and Walking on Water -- 19. The Day of Atonement -- 20. Raising Lazarus -- 21. Thirty Pieces of Silver -- 22. The Last Supper -- 23. Arrest and Trial -- 24. The Crucifixion -- 25. A Death that Failed -- 26. Inside the Cave -- 27. The Appearances -- 28. Kings and Governors -- 29. "At the Right Hand of God" -- 30. Saul the Indignant Student -- 31. Assassination and Change -- 32. A Family Problem -- 33. Away from the East -- 34. The Great Pentecost -- 35. The Final Journey -- Appendix I: Chronology -- Appendix II: Locations -- Appendix III: Hierarchy --Appendix IV: Notes for the Pesharist ; This bold, historical detective work--based on Thiering's discovery of the interpretative key to the Dead Sea Scrolls and the New Testament--yields a whole new picture of Christianity's origins and the identity of Jesus, as it argues for a Christianity based on the real counterculture and prophetic life of Jesus--not just the mythological surface of the Gospels. ; FINE/FINE.

Seller Inventory # 009247

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Jesus & the Riddle of the Dead Sea Scrolls: Unlocking the Secrets of His Life Story [Qumran; Home of the Scrolls; Christian Connections; A Question of Dates; The Pesher Technique; The Empire of the Jews; "The Ransom for One's Soul" --Exiles in the Wilderness; The Virgin Birth; Born to be King?; Joseph in "Egypt"; The Prodigal Son; Jesus the Young Man; John the Baptist; Jesus the Man; The Twelve Apostles; "He Has Beelzebul"; Mary Magdalene; Miraculous Feedings and Walking on Water; The Day of ...
• Publisher: [San Francisco, Calif.] : HarperSanFrancisco, c1992.
• Publication Date: 1992
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0060677821
• ISBN 13: 9780060677824
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition.
• Condition: Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Fine
• Book Type: Book

About this title

Synopsis

It has been forty-five years since the first Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in a cave at Qumran, twenty-five miles to the east of Jerusalem. For twenty of those years, scholar and theologian Barbara Thiering has pursued their meaning and tracked their secrets.
The result of her historical detective work is a bold rereading of the origins of Christianity based on her discovery of the interpretive key to the Scrolls and New Testament. This reading recognizes two levels of meaning--a symbolic surface level of miracle and mystery designed to inspire awe and fear in the "babes in Christ," and a stylized, yet purely historical, level that tells the story of Jesus' very human life.
This historical subtext, obscured by faulty dating assumptions in early scroll scholarship and contradicted by official Christian teaching, grounds the life of Jesus in its social, political, and religious context.
Thiering's interpretive key deconstructs traditional mysteries to show that Jesus was born into the royal priestly line of a strict Jewish sect at Qumran, not Bethlehem; was born out of wedlock to a betrothed, and thus, officially "virgin" woman; did not die on the cross but was drugged and later revived in the burial cave; married twice and fathered three children; as a hated outcast, befriended the poor, the sick, women, and gentiles and rejected the harsh legalism of his sect; and performed no miracles.
Thiering brilliantly refutes both those who insist on a faithful, literal reading of the events described in the Gospels and those who view these events as myths and legends. She argues instead for a historical Christianity that lends new meaning and relevance to what has, for two thousand years, been the source of our deepest and most powerful human values.

From the Publisher

A scholar reveals the real story of the life of Jesus and the origins of Christianity by discovering the key to the historical meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Gospels.