Archaeologist disproves widespread beliefs about the Dead Sea Scrolls
Jesus Christ did not live with the ancient people from the settlement near caves in which the Dead Sea Scrolls were found, even though some scholars have argued the contrary, an archaeologist said Thursday in a presentation sponsored by the Brite Divinity School.
Jodi Magness, an endowed archaeology professor from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, focused on the Essenes, an apocalyptic group that lived in Qumran, near the 11 caves in which more than 900 scrolls were discovered. She said that one-fourth of the scrolls represent all but one of the books of the Hebrew Bible, or Old Testament, all of which have at least one copy.
Did anyone argue that Jesus actually lived there?
Apparently it has never been established that the texts were produced in the Qumran area where they were found or related to any postulated ‘community’ (which would have been needed to write them) there.
One critical review of Magness’s book is called ‘50 years of going nowhere’ in trying to understand the archeology of the Dead Sea find. (See the Amazon reviews of Jodi Magness’s book).
Unfortunately the debate gets very heated (!).
Comment by bruce — February 28, 2010 @ 9:14 pm
Here I found short link to that critical review:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/A24KIVIQ445BBC/ref=cm_cr_pr_pdp
Comment by bruce — February 28, 2010 @ 9:19 pm
Yes, I was not aware until a couple of years ago how testy some people get about this subject. I suppose messing with peoples’ religious texts causes more anxiety than the use of boats by supposed pre-Clovis migrants.
Comment by acagle — March 1, 2010 @ 10:15 am