The Oxford Handbook of the Dead Sea Scrolls

The Oxford Handbook of the Dead Sea Scrolls

Book Cover
Editors	Timothy H. Lim and John J. Collins
Language	English
Series	Oxford Handbooks
Subject	Dead Sea Scrolls
Publisher	Oxford University Press
Publication date	2010
Publication place	United Kingdom
Media type	Print hardcover
Pages	xx + 768
ISBN	978-0-19-920723-7
OCLC	606774425

The Oxford Handbook of the Dead Sea Scrolls is a large reference work on the Dead Sea Scrolls edited by Timothy H. Lim and John J. Collins, published by Oxford University Press in 2010. The volume assembles state-of-the-field essays by thirty scholars and concentrates on contested problems in archaeology, history, sectarian identity, textual criticism, scriptural interpretation, linguistics, religious themes, interactions with early Christianity and later Judaism, and methodological approaches. ^{[1] [2]}

Contents

The handbook is organized in eight parts following an editors introduction. Essays provide synthetic argumentation and independent bibliographies. ^[1]

Contents

Part	No.	Chapter	Contributor
Introduction: Current Issues in Dead Sea Scrolls Research — Timothy H. Lim and John J. Collins
I Archaeology of Khirbet Qumran and the Judaean Wilderness	1	Khirbet Qumran and its Environs	Eric M. Meyers
	2	The Qumran Cemetery Reassessed	Rachel Hachlili
II The Scrolls and Jewish History	3	Constructing Ancient Judaism from the Scrolls	Martin D. Goodman
	4	The Origins and History of the Teacher's Movement	Michael O. Wise
	5	Women in Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls	Tal Ilan
III The Scrolls and Sectarianism	6	Sectarian Communities in the Dead Sea Scrolls	John J. Collins
	7	The Classical Sources on the Essenes and the Scrolls Communities	Joan E. Taylor
	8	Sociological Approaches to Qumran Sectarianism	Jutta Jokiranta
	9	Qumran Calendars and Sectarianism	Sacha Stern
	10	The Book of Enoch and the Qumran Scrolls	James C. VanderKam
IV The Biblical Texts, Interpretation, and Languages of the Scrolls	11	Assessing the Text-Critical Theories of the Hebrew Bible after Qumran	Ronald S. Hendel
	12	Authoritative Scriptures and the Dead Sea Scrolls	Timothy H. Lim
	13	Rewritten Scripture	Molly M. Zahn
	14	The Continuity of Biblical Interpretation in the Qumran Scrolls and Rabbinic Literature	Bilhah Nitzan
	15	Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek in the Qumran Scrolls	Jan Joosten
V Religious Themes in the Scrolls	16	Purity in the Dead Sea Scrolls	Jonathan Klawans
	17	Apocalypticism and Messianism	Michael A. Knibb
	18	Exploring the Mystical Background of the Dead Sea Scrolls	James R. Davila
	19	Wisdom Literature and Thought in the Dead Sea Scrolls	Armin Lange
	20	Iranian Connections in the Dead Sea Scrolls	Albert de Jong
	21	Was the Dead Sea Sect a Penitential Movement?	David Lambert
VI The Scrolls and Early Christianity	22	Critical Issues in the Investigation of the Scrolls and the New Testament	Jörg Frey
	23	Monotheism, Principal Angels, and the Background of Christology	Larry W. Hurtado
	24	Shared Exegetical Traditions between the Scrolls and the New Testament	George J. Brooke
VII The Scrolls and Later Judaism	25	Halakhah between the Dead Sea Scrolls and Rabbinic Literature	Aharon Shemesh
	26	The Contribution of the Qumran Scrolls to the Study of Ancient Jewish Liturgy	Daniel K. Falk
	27	Reviewing the Links between the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Cairo Genizah	Stefan C. Reif
VIII New Approaches to the Scrolls	28	Rhetorical Criticism and the Reading of the Qumran Scrolls	Carol A. Newsom
	29	Roland Barthes and the Teacher of Righteousness, the Death of the Author of the Dead Sea Scrolls	Maxine L. Grossman
	30	The Scrolls and the Legal Definition of Authorship	Hector L. MacQueen

Themes and arguments

The handbook frames Qumran archaeology through site specific analysis and mortuary data, then develops historiographic reconstruction via essays on the Teacher's movement and on the social presence of women. ^[1] The sectarianism section models identity using textual and sociological evidence, compares classical testimonia on Essenes with Scrolls data, analyzes calendrical regimes as boundary markers, and locates Scrolls traditions within wider Enochic currents. The textual section surveys models of Hebrew Bible textual development after Qumran, defines scriptural authority by citation and interpretation practices, maps rewritten scripture as compositional process, tracks continuities with rabbinic exegesis, and profiles tri-lingual manuscript culture. ^[2] The religious themes section quantifies ritual purity discourse and reassesses apocalyptic and messianic patterns, evaluates possible mystical backgrounds, synthesizes sapiential corpora, and tests claims of Iranian influence and penitential social forms. ^[3] The final sections calibrate lines of comparison with early Christianity that avoid forced genealogies, then situate Scrolls halakhah and liturgy relative to later Judaism, and close with methodological and legal analyses of rhetoric, reader oriented theory, and authorship in light of modern case law. The editors state a programmatic intent to present divergent positions on disputed issues rather than reproduce a prior consensus. ^[4]

Reception

Academic and specialist reviews identified the work as an authoritative synthesis focused on open questions in Scrolls research. Eileen M. Schuller reviewed the collection as a contribution that foregrounds areas of disagreement while assembling substantial bibliographies for further work. ^[2] Daniel M. Gurtner emphasized the eight part structure and noted essays that recalibrate sectarian identity, calendrical systems, and textual models. He judged the comparative program with early Christianity as cautious and informative, and identified the methods section as significant for ongoing interpretation. ^[5] Charlotte Hempel highlighted chapters that question assumptions about the centrality of a solar calendar for sect formation and about withdrawal from the Jerusalem Temple, and characterized the volume as representative of a plural textual and legal landscape in the Qumran corpus. ^[6]

References

1. "The Oxford handbook of the Dead Sea Scrolls". UW–Madison Libraries Catalog. University of Wisconsin–Madison. 2010. Retrieved September 29, 2025.
2. Schuller, Eileen M. (2013). "Review of Lim and Collins, eds., The Oxford Handbook of the Dead Sea Scrolls". Journal of Hebrew Scriptures. 12. doi: 10.5508/jhs.2012.v12.r55 . Retrieved September 29, 2025.
3. Gurtner, Daniel M. (2011). "The Oxford Handbook of the Dead Sea Scrolls". Themelios. The Gospel Coalition. Retrieved September 29, 2025.
4. "List of Tables, The Oxford Handbook of the Dead Sea Scrolls". Oxford Academic. January 2, 2011. Retrieved September 29, 2025.
5. Gurtner, Daniel M. (2011). "The Oxford Handbook of the Dead Sea Scrolls". Themelios. Retrieved September 29, 2025.
6. Hempel, Charlotte (March 21, 2012). "The Oxford Handbook of the Dead Sea Scrolls". BAS Bible History Daily. Retrieved September 29, 2025.

External links

• "The Oxford Handbook of the Dead Sea Scrolls, hardcover page". Oxford University Press. Retrieved September 29, 2025.