T&T Clark Studies in the Dead Sea Scrolls (5 vols.)

by Géza G. Xeravits; Philip S. Alexander; Sarianna Metso; Matthew A. Collins

and

2 more

Publisher:

T&T Clark

, 2006–2019

Overview

The Library of Second Temple Studies is a premier book series that offers cutting-edge work for a readership of scholars, teachers, postgraduate students and advanced undergraduates in the field of Second Temple studies. All the many and diverse aspects of Second Temple study are represented and promoted, including innovative work from historical perspectives, studies using social-scientific and literary theory, and developing theological, cultural and contextual approaches.

Bloomsbury Companions series is a major series of single volume companions to key research fields in the humanities aimed at postgraduate students, scholars and libraries. Each companion offers a comprehensive reference resource giving an overview of key topics, research areas, new directions and a manageable guide to beginning or developing research in the field. A distinctive feature of the series is that each companion provides practical guidance on advanced study and research in the field, including research methods and subject-specific resources.

Key Features

• Addresses topics of dualism, mysticism, the Serekh Texts, and sobriquets in the Dead Sea Scrolls
• Provides research in the fields of archaeology, theology, literature, and interpretation
• Contains valuable insights into the Qumran culture

Product Details

• Title: T&T Clark Studies in Dead Sea Scrolls (5 vols.)
• Publisher: T&T Clark
• Volumes: 5
• Pages: 1,462
• Topic: Dead Sea Scrolls
• Resource ID: {D961F740-75C9-414F-A0FC-473457DB83A4}

Dualism in Qumran

• Editor: Géza G. Xeravits
• Series: Library of Second Temple Studies
• Publisher: T&T Clark
• Publication Date: 2010
• Pages: 208

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

This is an assessment of dualistic thinking in the Qumran material written by leading contributors in the light of two decades of Qumran research. The importance of dualistic thinking within the Dead Sea Scrolls has always been emphasised in Qumran Studies. Nevertheless, in the last two decades the research on Qumran dualism seems to have been on the margins of scholarly interest. The main result of contemporary research in this area is support for the conviction that one cannot postulate compelling doctrines in the ‘theology of Qumran’—the group did not want to develop a sophisticated doctrinal system; rather, they collected and mediated various aspects of the theology of their times. Since virtually all the Qumran material has been published, it is now apposite to evaluate several oft-debated topics of scholarly research. The theme of ‘dualism in Qumran’ is one such area in need of fresh investigation. The contributors of the present volume begin this work and open up new fields that might stimulate further reflection on the problem, assessing such issues as: the origin of Qumran’s dualism; the literary growth of the passages in question; and the social/ideological setting of the dualistic passages within the Qumran Library.

This collection of essays is timely... several of them make interesting contributions.

—Journal of Jewish Studies

Géza G. Xeravits is professor and chair at the Department of Bible, Sapientia College of Theology, Budapest, Hungary. The main field of his research is early Jewish literature, especially the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the deuterocanonical books of the Old Testament.

T&T Clark Companion to the Dead Sea Scrolls

• Editors: George J. Brooke & Charlotte Hempel
• Series: Bloomsbury/T&T Clark Companions
• Publisher: T&T Clark
• Publication Date: 2018
• Pages: 672

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

The Dead Sea Scrolls are one of the most important archaeological discoveries of the last century. They have great historical, religious, and linguistic significance, not least in relation to the transmission of many of the books which came to be included in the Hebrew Bible. This companion comprises over 70 articles, exploring the entire body of the key texts and documents labeled as Dead Sea Scrolls.

Beginning with a section on the complex methods used in discovering, archiving and analysing the Scrolls, the focus moves to consideration of the Scrolls in their various contexts: political, religious, cultural, economic and historical. The genres ascribed to groups of texts within the Scrolls—including exegesis and interpretation, poetry and hymns, and liturgical texts—are then examined, with due attention given to both past and present scholarship. The main body of the Companion concludes with crucial issues and topics discussed by leading scholars. Complemented by extensive appendices and indexes, this Companion provides the ideal resource for those seriously engaging with the Dead Sea Scrolls.

The Companion to the Dead Sea Scrolls is innovative in its approach as it explores categories of information that have not been covered in the past, with regard to both individual compositions and new areas of research. The editors have succeeded in bringing together a young team of eminent expert scholars who present the state-of-the-art results of modern scholarship for the beginning student and experienced scholar alike.

—Emanuel Tov, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel

George J. Brooke is Rylands Professor of Biblical Criticism and Exegesis, University of Manchester (UK).

Charlotte Hempel is Reader in Hebrew Bible and Second Temple Judaism at the University of Birmingham, UK.

The Mystical Texts

• Author: Philip Alexander
• Series: Library of Second Temple Studies
• Publisher: T&T Clark
• Publication Date: 2006
• Pages: 192

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

Starting from a careful definition of mysticism, this volume argues that there is clear evidence for the practice of mysticism in the Community of the Dead Sea Scrolls. It offers a close reading of the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice, the Self-Glorification Hymn, and related texts, which constitute the Qumran mystical corpus. It discusses the nature of the mystical experience at Qumran, which was centred on union with the angels in offering praise to God in the celestial temple, and the means by which this union was achieved, through the communal chanting of highly-charged numinous hymns.

It also argues that that the presence of mysticism at Qumran has important implications for the history of western mysticism. It means that Jewish mysticism began in priestly circles in Second Temple times, several centuries before the commonly accepted date. And the important form of Christian mysticism involving speculation on the angelic hierarchies, classically associated with Dionysius the Areopagite, had a pre-Christian Jewish forebear. Consequently Qumran mysticism belongs to the genealogy of Christian as well as of Jewish mysticism.

This volume synthesizes and makes accessible a mass of technical research widely scattered in monographs and articles, and offers the reader a clear guide to the most recent scholarly work in the field.

This volume is a very welcome and learned addition to the Companions to the Qumran Scrolls series. It is written clearly and accesibly while at the same time offering much more than an introductory text that is essential reading for students and scholars of the scrolls and Jewish mysticism

—Charlotte Hempel, Journal of Jewish Studies

Philip Alexander is Professor of Post-Biblical Jewish Literature and Co-Director of the Centre for Jewish Studies in the University of Manchester.

The Serekh Texts

• Author: Sarianna Metso
• Series: Library of Second Temple Studies
• Publisher: T&T Clark
• Publication Date: 2007
• Pages: 102

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

The Serekh Texts discusses the central rule documents produced by a pious Jewish community of the Essenes that lived at Qumran by the Dead Sea at the turn of the era. The texts describe the life of a highly ascetic group that had rejected the hellenistic Jewish culture and had withdrawn into the desert to live a life of perfect obedience to the Torah. Sarianna Metso introduces the twelve manuscripts of the Community Rule found in Qumran Caves 1, 4 and 5 in terms of their content, textual history, literary function, and significance for the study of ancient Judaism and early Christianity. The writings of the community open a fascinating window onto the religious life in Palestine at the time of the emergence of early Christianity and rabbinic Judaism. There are few other contemporary Jewish sources in which the life and religious practices of a Jewish group are so vividly and authentically illustrated. The Serekh Texts provides an accessible summary of current scholarly discussion on the central topics related to the Community Rule, such as the community’s identity and history, and offers comprehensive bibliographies for further study.

For those with interest in the Dead Sea scrolls, this book can be a fascinating window into the life of ancient Judea... This is a very readable book but not one for the casual reader. For the interested reader, it is a treasure chest of detail.

—Rabbi Louis A. Rieser, Congregational Libraries Today, May/June 2008

Sarianna Metso is Associate Professor in the Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations at the University of Toronto and author of The Textual Development of the Qumran Community Rule (Leiden: Brill, 1997).

The Use of Sobriquets in the Qumran Dead Sea Scrolls

• Author: Matthew A. Collins
• Series: Library of Second Temple Studies
• Publisher: T&T Clark
• Publication Date: 2009
• Pages: 288

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

This book constitutes an examination of key sobriquets found among the Qumran Dead Sea Scrolls. Its primary focus is literary rather than historical and concentrates on the function of the sobriquets as labels utilised positively or negatively within the sectarian compositions. Noting the presence of ‘standard’ and ‘variant’ forms of these designations, this study examines the differing form and function of the sobriquets across the range of texts in which they appear. More specifically, it attempts to demonstrate that over time they underwent a developmental process, changing in form and perhaps denotation.

Adopting a chronological schema that posits a Formative, Early and Late Sectarian Period, and concentrating on the sobriquets ‘the Teacher of Righteousness’ and ‘the Spouter of the Lie’, this investigation observes a development from contextualised scriptural typologies towards titular forms constituting discrete elements of sectarian terminology. A more general evolutionary trend towards a definite (‘standard’) form is also highlighted, with so-called variants representing earlier stages in this process (further demonstrated by means of a supplementary case study involving the sobriquet, ‘the Seekers of Smooth Things’).Comparison of these results with sociological insights, drawing upon the sociology of deviance and ‘labelling theory’, suggests that this phenomenon can be understood against a wider context of labelling practices. Thus it is demonstrated that the sobriquets function as tools for labelling deviance and affirming positive counterparts. Furthermore, it is suggested that the move towards definite titular forms reflects a process of role engulfment, increased prototypically and the ultimate acquisition of ‘master status’.

This book represents a significant development in the study of the use of sobriquets in the Scrolls, and, more generally, it is an important step forward in the field of Qumran studies.

—H-Judaic: Jewish Studies Network

Dr Matthew A. Collins is Senior Lecturer in Hebrew Bible and Second Temple Judaism at the University of Chester, UK.