Complete Dead Sea Scrolls - Softcover

Vermes, Geza

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140278079 ISBN 13: 9780140278071

Publisher: Penguin Books, 1998

Synopsis

A renowned biblical scholar offers, after years of legal and academic difficulties, a reliable, accurate, and complete translation of the famous Dead Sea Scrolls, ancient documents that have deeply affected our knowledge of the past and of Judeo-Christian origins. Reprint.

About this title

Review

It's been 50 years since a Bedouin youth named Muhammed edh-Dhub went looking for a stray sheep and instead found the Dead Sea Scrolls. In the intervening decades, the scrolls have been enveloped in a storm of controversy and bitter conflict: the scholars entrusted with translating and editing the texts sat on many of them instead, creating suspicions that escalated to conspiracy theories about supposed cover-ups of sensitive, even damaging material. Geza Vermes, a former professor of Jewish studies at Oxford and a noted authority on the scrolls, marks the 50th anniversary of Muhammed edh-Dhub's find with his book The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English; the title, however, is misleading, for the collection of documents is by no means complete.

Vermes has left out the copies of Hebrew scriptures that are available elsewhere, instead focusing on the sectarian writings of the Essene community at Qumran and the intertestemental texts, and these are indeed complete translations. Vermes has also included an overview of five decades of research on the scrolls and a thumbnail sketch of the Qumran community's history and religion. For anyone interested in biblical history, The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English is a worthwhile read.

About the Author

Geza Vermes’s pioneering work on the Dead Sea Scrolls and the historical Jesus led to his appointment as the first professor of Jewish studies at Oxford University, where he is now professor emeritus. He is the author of several books, including The Authentic Gospel of Jesus.
Geza Vermes’s pioneering work on the Dead Sea Scrolls and the historical Jesus led to his appointment as the first professor of Jewish studies at Oxford University, where he is now professor emeritus. He is the author of several books, including The Authentic Gospel of Jesus.

Edition details

• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0140278079
• ISBN 13: 9780140278071
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 672