The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Origins of the Bible (Studies in the Dead Sea Scrolls and Related Literature) (Studies in the Dead Sea Scrolls & Related Literature) [Paperback]

Eugene Ulrich (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 31, 1999 | Series: Studies in the Dead Sea Scrolls & Related Literature

The Dead Sea Scrolls from Qumran provide the oldest, best, and most direct witness we have to the origins of the Hebrew Bible. Prior to the discovery of the Scrolls, scholars had textual evidence for only a single, late period in the history of the biblical text, leading them to believe that the text was uniform. The Scrolls, however, provide documentary evidence a thousand years older than all previously known Hebrew manuscripts and reveal a period of pluriformity in the biblical text prior to the stage of uniformity. In this important collection of studies, Eugene Ulrich, one of the world's foremost experts on the Dead Sea Scrolls, outlines a comprehensive theory that reconstructs the complex development of the ancient texts that eventually came to form the Old Testament. Several of the essays set forth his pioneering theory of "multiple literary editions," which is replacing older views of the origins of the biblical text. The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Origins of the Bible represents the leading edge of research in the exciting field of Scrolls studies.

Product Details

• Paperback: 328 pages
• Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company (May 31, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802846114
• ISBN-13: 978-0802846112
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 5.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #416,048 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Seeing Some of the Differences, September 18, 2000

By 

Paul C Ziemer - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Origins of the Bible (Studies in the Dead Sea Scrolls and Related Literature) (Studies in the Dead Sea Scrolls & Related Literature) (Paperback)

The reader is alerted in the Preface that this book is a collection of past essays by the author, written for various conferences and collections. Some overlap of subject matter and repetition of thoughts should be expected. The amount of this, however, is not severe.

Perhaps as much as one-half of the book addresses the question of how the biblical text came into being. The idea of a divinely inspired and faithfully handed down original text is quickly dismissed. The author instead advances the now familiar theory that the books of the bible were produced in editorial stages that included two major thrusts: The faithful repetition of important traditions, and the creative reshaping of those traditions in new theological directions. (Pg. 8)

If one wonders why so much attention is given to possible origins of the Bible instead of the Qumran scrolls themselves, the answer becomes apparent as the author strives to demonstrate that the Qumran biblical manuscripts continue this very process of textual evolution.

For this reader the value of the book lies in the chapters that present readings from the Qumran scrolls which are lined up with the same-verse-readings from a wide range of other ancient texts. The Samaritan Pentateuch; the Masoretic Text; the Septuagint; the Hexapla; and the Old Latin translation of the Septuagint all receive comparative attention.

The reader may not always agree with the conclusions of the author, but the easy-to-compare format allows one to quickly grasp a picture of the differences among the texts and to evaluate their import.

However, a reader does need to be forewarned that without a working knowledge of Hebrew, Greek and Latin one is left in a weak position from which to evaluate the conclusions the author draws.

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Pluriformity of the Hebrew Bible and its Significance, August 29, 2002

By 

Virgil Brown (White Oak, Texas USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Origins of the Bible (Paperback)

Past generations of scholars used to seek the ur-text of the Hebrew Bible. The Hebrew text (specifically the MT) was amended by correcting "corruptions," by translating the Septuagint back into Hebrew with the belief that it represented an earlier text, or some other method.

In _The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Origins of the Bible_ Eugene Ulrich presents a series of essays, once presented as papers for academic conventions, which present the history of the biblical text, starting with the Hebrew texts and progressing to the Greek and Latin texts.

In his essays Ulrich presents three key items: 1) before the Second Revolt (c. 132 CE) there were a pluriformity of texts; 2) until the destruction of the Second Temple, or even until the Second Revolt, the external shape of the "Scriptures" had not been established; and 3) it has too often been assumed that the MT was "the biblical text."

These three items run contrary to what many of us have been taught in years past about the formation of the Hebrew Bible.

0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars All is A-OK, February 4, 2010

By 

Michael A. Millage "Mike" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Origins of the Bible (Studies in the Dead Sea Scrolls and Related Literature) (Studies in the Dead Sea Scrolls & Related Literature) (Paperback)

The product arrived in good time and was in fine condition, could hardly tell it was second-hand.