What They Are and Why They Matter
The Dead Sea Scrolls were one of the most spectacular archaeological finds of the past century. They attracted enormous popular interest when first displayed but work on publication and interpretation has been going on ever since, even if sometimes beneath the popular radar.
But what exactly are they? Where did they come from, and how do they relate to the buildings excavated near by? Who wrote them? What do they tell us about the history of the text of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, and what light do they shed on the nature of Judaism at the time of Jesus?
Over the decades all sorts of conspiracy theories have grown up. Proper publication has now been completed – why did it take so long? – so that we are now in a better position to answer some of the many questions that they have raised over the decades.
Speaker
Hugh Williamson was the Regius Professor of Hebrew at Oxford from 1992 until his retirement in 2014. Before that he was in Cambridge. His main research in the first part of his career was on the books of Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah, and he then moved on to work mainly on the book of Isaiah. For many years he participated in the archaeological excavations at Lachish and then at Jezreel.
Programme
9.30 Registration
10.00 An Overview – This session will tell the story of their discovery and the excavation of nearby buildings. It will also outline the kinds of material included among the hundreds of manuscripts and provide some initial orientation to what they might tell us that we did not know before.
11.00 Coffee/tea
11.30 The Biblical Text (Warning: this is the speaker’s main research interest!) – Many of the manuscripts – most of which are very fragmentary – are versions of what we call the Old Testament. This session will put that fact in a proper, remarkable context in relation to what we previously knew about the text and will reflect on how much is the same but also the great importance of understanding what is different, and why.
12.30 Lunch (bring your own) tea/coffee available
1.30 Interpreting the Bible – Some of the other scrolls will have been written by members of the community. They reveal a way of reading the Bible which is far from anything we are used to but extremely revealing of the history and nature of the community. So, what can we learn about them, and who were they?
2.30 Tea/coffee
3.00 The Dead Sea Scrolls and Christianity – People often want to know if the Dead Sea Scrolls affect Christianity. Was John the Baptist a member of the community? Do the scrolls undermine the New
Testament narratives about Jesus? Or do they rather fill in more of the background than we previously knew about? This session will be deliberately kept short to allow plenty of time for questions and discussion.
4.00 Departure
Cost
£12 (£15 to non-members)