What Are the Dead Sea Scrolls and Why Are They Important?: A talk by Alex Jassen March 24, 2010

Have you ever wondered what the Dead Sea Scrolls are and why there is so much controversy surrounding them? This presentation will provide a general introduction to the contents of the Dead Sea Scrolls and explore where they come from, when they were composed, why they have become scandalous, and what they really contribute to our understanding of the Bible, Judaism, and Christianity. Special attention will be paid to the manuscripts on display at the Science Museum of Minnesota.

Alex Jassen is a professor of Classical and Near Eastern Studies at the University of Minnesota. Among other works, he is the author of Scripture and Law in the Dead Sea Scrolls (Forthcoming), Violence, Scripture, and Textual Practice in Early Judaism and Christianity (with Ra'anan S. Boustan and Calvin J. Roetzel, forthcoming), and Mediating the Divine: Prophecy and Revelation in the Dead Sea Scrolls and Second Temple Judaism.

The Dead Sea Scrolls are a collection of about 900 documents, including texts from the Hebrew Bible, discovered between 1947 and 1956 in eleven caves in and around the ruins of the ancient settlement of Khirbet Qumran on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea in the present day West Bank. The texts are of great religious and historical significance, as they include the oldest known surviving copies of Biblical and extra-biblical documents and preserve evidence of great diversity in late Second Temple Judaism.

Official Website: https://events.umn.edu/What-Are-the-Dead-Sea-Scrolls-and-Why-Are-They-Important-A-talk-by-Alex-Jas.htm