This collection of papers from the Roehampton conference on the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Bible is the first jubilee volume published to celebrate the discovery of the Scrolls fifty years ago. Experts on the Scrolls, Hebrew language, biblical studies, ancient Judaism and modern literary theory cover a range of perspectives-as well as important issues of method and the perennial problems of the identity of the inhabitants of Khirbet Qumran and the relationship between the site and the discoveries in the nearby caves. Contributors include the well-known experts, Philip Davies, George Brooke, Al Wolters and J.D.G. Dunn.

The present volume was compiled as a respectful tribute to A.S. van der Woude and presented to him on the occasion of his 65th birthday, which coincided with his retirement as professor of Old Testament and Intertestamental Studies at the University of Groningen, a chair he held for more than thirty years. The title of this "Festschrift," "The Scriptures and the Scrolls," reflects the two fields of study to which he has devoted his scholarly life, not only by doing research himself, but also by stimulating many of his colleagues to collaborate in publications initiated by him. The contributions, a melange of studies covering the wide range of Van der Woude's interests, have been arranged according to the order: Hebrew Bible (following the sequence of the books), Apocrypha, Dead Sea Scrolls, and Rabbinic Tradition. From the Contents: E. Tov, '4QLevd (4Q26)' C.J. Labuschagne, ''You Shall not Boil a Kid in its Mother's Milk'. A New Proposal for the Origin of the Prohibition.' J.A. Emerton, 'The Translation of Isaiah 5,1.' J.T.A.G.M. van Ruiten, 'The Intertextual Relationship between Isa 11, 6-9 and Isa 65, 25.' W.A.M. Beuken, 'Isa 29, 15-24: Perversion Reverted.' W. McKane, 'Jeremiah 30, 1-3, Especially 'Israel.'' R.P. Carroll, 'Night without Vision. Micah and the Prophets.' C. van Leeuwen, 'The 'Northern One' in the Composition of Joel, 2, 19-27.' G. Wallis, A Note on Ps 45, 7a?.' M.J. Mulder, 'Does Canticles 6, 12 Make Sense?' B. Otzen, 'Michael and Gabriel. Angelological Problems in the Book of Daniel.' J.P.M. van der Ploeg, 'Some Remarks on a Newly Found Syriac Text of the Book of Judith.' A. Hilhorst, 'The Speech on Truth in 1 Esdras 4, 34-41.' P.R. Davies, 'Redaction and Sectarianismin the Qumran Scrolls.' M.A. Knibb, 'A Note on 4Q372 and 4Q390.' F. Garcia Martinez, 'The Last Surviving Columns of 11QNJ.' G. Stemberger, 'The Maccabees in Rabbinic Tradition.' J. Neusner, 'How the Bavli Shaped Rabbinic Discourse: The Case of Sifra.' J.W. Rogerson, 'Writing the History of Israel in the 17th and 18th Centuries.' F. Garcia Martinez, 'Bibliography of A.S. van der Woude.'

The recovery of 800 documents in the eleven caves on the northwest shores of the Dead Sea is one of the most sensational archeological discoveries in the Holy Land to date. These three volumes, the very best of critical scholarship, demonstrate in detail how the scrolls have revolutionized our knowledge of the text of the Bible, the character of Second Temple Judaism, and the Jewish beginnings of Christianity.

The recovery of 800 documents in the eleven caves on the northwest shores of the Dead Sea is one of the most sensational archeological discoveries in the Holy Land to date. These three volumes, the very best of critical scholarship, demonstrate in detail how the scrolls have revolutionized our knowledge of the text of the Bible, the character of Second Temple Judaism, and the Jewish beginnings of Christianity.

"Six of the seven chapters in The Dead Sea scrolls and the Bible began as the Speaker's Lectures at Oxford University, delivered during the first two weeks of May 2009"--Introd.

Walton and Sandy summarize what we know of orality and oral tradition as well as the composition and transmission of texts in the ancient Near East and the Greco-Roman world, and how this shapes our understanding of the Old and New Testaments. The authors then translate these insights into a helpful model for understanding the reliability of Scripture.

Winner of the 2015 Choice Outstanding Academic Title Award Winner of the Frank Moore Cross Award for Best Book in Biblical Studies from ASOR Winner of the Biblical Archaeology Society 2017 Publication Award for Best Book Relating to the Hebrew Bible Eugene Ulrich presents in The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Developmental Composition of the Bible ( (also available as paperback) the comprehensive and synthesized picture he has gained as editor of many biblical scrolls. His earlier volume, The Biblical Qumran Scrolls, presented the evidence — the transcriptions and textual variants of all the biblical scrolls — and this volume explores the implications and significance of that evidence. The Bible has not changed, but modern knowledge of it certainly has changed. The ancient Scrolls have opened a window and shed light on a period in the history of the text’s formation that had languished in darkness for two thousand years. They offer a parade of surprises that greatly enhance knowledge of how the scriptural texts developed through history.

In April 2008 a conference was convened at Rice University that brought together experts in the three monotheistic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The papers discussed at the conference are presented here, revised and updated. The thirteen contributions comprise the keynote address by John Miles Foley; three essays on Judaism and the Hebrew Bible; three on the New Testament; three on the Qur'an; and two summarizing pieces, by the Africanist Ruth Finnegan and the Islamicist William Graham respectively. The central thesis of the book states that sacred Scripture was experienced by the three faiths less as a text contained between two covers and a literary genre, and far more as an oral phenomenon. In developing the performative, recitative aspects of the three religions, the authors directly or by implication challenge their distinctly textual identities. Instead of viewing the three faiths as quintessential religions of the book, these writers argue that the religions have been and continue to be appropriated not only as written but also very much as oral authorities, with the two media interpenetrating and mutually influencing each other in myriad ways.

What do the Dead Sea Scrolls tell us about the forms, transmission, canonization, and interpretation of authoritative scriptures.

The early Christian church had a variety of Scriptures and other source material that informed their faith and shaped their thinking. But after a few centuries the church decided to keep the twenty-seven books of our present New Testament and to treat them as a canonical in faith and practice. But what of the other books? Many of them have survived and remain valuable for understanding the diversity of the early Christian church and the astounding claims of faith on which it was founded. Learning about these ancient documents need not threaten the church's current orthodoxy and authority; in fact, learning about these texts can help today's Christians form a deeper understanding of the early church.