The following is a five page book review on “The Dead Sea Scrolls Today”. This book was written by James C. Vanderkam, a notable scholar in this field. I did it as part of “the Dead See Scrolls” class requirement. We were asked to write three negative and three positive comments on this book. I did not know a thing about the Dead Sea Scrolls before taking this class. I remember I was still very ill then. But God's grace brought me through this most difficult and challenging period as He still does now.
Many have written about the Dead Sea Scrolls and aspects of the controversies that have engulfed them. The media tend to publicize the ones more widely held. If anyone claimed to have discovered a new messianic reference in a scroll fragment and maintains that it somehow has extraordinary consequences for Christianity, the media will spread the word immediately. In the light of this situation, the author intended to write an orderly account about the scrolls themselves and what has happened with them since the mid-1980s.
It was not possible to look at the entire extraordinary library that had been hidden away in the eleven caves before. As soon as the complete lists of the Qumran texts had became available in the early 1990s the author started composing this book. The book was written for a wide audience. The author attempted to cover the major areas of scroll research and to bring the latest information to bear on them.
Vanderkam began this book by telling his readers a story. He said that there were reports centuries ago some ancient manuscripts had been found in the region of Jericho, near the Dead Sea. A Christian, lived from A.D. 185 to 254 was an acute biblical student who compiled an enormous work that included in parallel columns six version of the entire Old Testament both in Hebrew and in Greed. The work he did was called the Hexpla. He mentioned that the sixth Greek version of the Psalms that he presented in his Hexapla had been found in a jar around Jericho.
Vanderkam continued saying that there was a church historian Eusebisu (260-340) stated in his Ecclesiastical History that a Greek version of the Psalms and other Greek and Hebrew manuscripts had been found in a jar at Jericho . He also said that some Jewish and Arabic sources mention a group of “cave people” because their teachings arose from books found in a cave.
All the information stated above is very confusing if not informative. No further explanation or reference was provided. Readers like me (a beginner without any Qumran background) is puzzled with the “reliability” of the above-mentioned story and could not figure out their relationship with the Dead Sea Scrolls in its historical and literary contexts. I did not realize it was just a story and have nothing to do with the Dead Sea Scrolls itself until I finished reading half of the book.
Although the story telling is rather an interesting opening, it is also very misleading. It would be better if the author could have placed them in the end of the book. Readers would then probably find these stories were informative after having gained some knowledge about the Dead Sea Scroll.
Although Vanderkam intended to write this book for a wider audience and to use it as a tour guide to the Qumran treasure, some of his writings did not accommodate it well. Vanderkam failed to tell his readers some basic information while he used them to present his arguments. He probably assumed that readers were somewhat knowledgeable of the information and overlooked the fact that many of them are not. For example, historian Josephus’s writings were referred throughout the book. However, Vanderkam did not mention who Joshphus was. All had been said in the book was “historian Josephus”. I had no clue if Josephus was a contemporary scholar or an ancient figure. All I remembered was Josephus was a Jewish historian from an Old Testament class I took years ago. I had to look up other Dead Sea resources for Information. All Vanderkam needed was just to add a sentence stating that Joshphus was a Jewish historian (ca.37-100 CE). I found this small omission was corrected in his new book "The Meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls".
In the same way, while trying to identify the community associated with the Qumran group, Vanderkam used both Josephus and Philo of Alexandria’s work as references to identify whether the Qumran group was the Essenes. Again, he did not introduce who Philo was. Neither did he mention from what publications of these authors did he get his information.
Vanderkam did not inform his readers that the major classical descriptions of the Essences were found in Philo's two writings and thus why his work had being used in this regard. He also failed to explain whether there was evidence indicating either Josephus or Philo was aware of the settlement of the shore of the Dead Sea and their writings about Essenes were more a part of Jewish society.
Nevertheless, the critiques stated above were minor compared to what Vanderkam has accomplished in this book. As he indicated in the book, he would like to present this book in a similar way as the Gospel of Luke. In a broad sense, he did accomplish this goal.
Vanderkam has succeeded in summarizing very lucidly the complicate story of the Dead Sea Scrolls – their discovery, nature, chronology, literary character, and background. It was not an easy task. The attractive writing style and the profound, clear analyses in this book makes it a handbook on the Dead Sea Scrolls that will be consulted. His writing style was plainly enough to attract non-scholar readers and yet remained focused on subjects he would like to present. Reading his book is like listening to a storyteller, interesting and does not want to stop. If one opened the book he is likely to stick with it until to a break point. Like a river, Vanderkam’s writing flows smoothly and quenched reader’s curiosity.
Vanderkam’s book comes as a breath of fresh air. Here is a clear, readable, balanced introduction that disarmed the “fear” of many new comers and amateurs of the Dead Sea Scrolls by unveiling the mystery of it. No one is better equipped than Vanderkam to write on this subject. He is one of the most eminent Dead Sea Scroll scholars in the world. Yet, he never sound as he was the expert in any arguments or analysis throughout this book. He was very objective and took account of the full spectrum of scholarship and puts maverick theories in perspective. He judiciously considered a wide variety of views including those he disagreed with. Vanderkam treated his readers as his fellow scholars by humbly raising some concerns he had and yet left them with enough information and space to explore on their own.
This is a book worth reading even though it is "old". Most of the information in this book was included in Vanderkam's new book " The Meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls" except the "opening stories". However, if you are new to the Dead Sea Scrolls and would like to have a quick glance of what they are, this book is still a good place to start.
