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Books by Carmen Palmer

Dead Sea Scrolls, Revise and Repeat: New Methods and Perspectives, 2020

A reexamination of the people and movements associated with Qumran, their outlook on the world, a... more A reexamination of the people and movements associated with Qumran, their outlook on the world, and what bound them together Dead Sea Scrolls, Revise and Repeat examines the identity of the Qumran movement by reassessing former conclusions and bringing new methodologies to the study of the Dead Sea Scrolls. The collection as a whole addresses questions of identity as they relate to law, language, and literary formation; considerations of time and space; and demarcations of the body. The thirteen essays in this volume reassess the categorization of rule texts, the reuse of scripture, the significance of angelic fellowship, the varieties of calendrical use, and celibacy within the Qumran movement. Contributors consider identity in the Dead Sea Scrolls from new interdisciplinary perspectives, including spatial theory, legal theory, historical linguistics, ethnicity theory, cognitive literary theory, monster theory, and masculinity theory. Edited by C Palmer, A Krause, E Schuller, and J Screnock.

Converts in the Dead Sea Scrolls examines the meaning of the term gēr in the Dead Sea Scrolls. Wh... more Converts in the Dead Sea Scrolls examines the meaning of the term gēr in the Dead Sea Scrolls. While often interpreted as a resident alien, this study of the term as it is employed within scriptural rewriting in the Dead Sea Scrolls concludes that the gēr is a Gentile convert to Judaism. Contrasting the gēr in the Dead Sea Scrolls against scriptural predecessors, Carmen Palmer finds that a conversion is possible by means of mutable ethnicity. Furthermore, mutable features of ethnicity in the sectarian movement affiliated with the Dead Sea Scrolls include shared kinship, connection to land, and common culture in the practice of circumcision. The sectarian movement is not as closed toward Gentiles as has been commonly considered.

Papers by Carmen Palmer

JJMJS, vol. 10, 2023

The matter of the circumcision of women, or more accurately, the lack thereof, is approached vari... more The matter of the circumcision of women, or more accurately, the lack thereof, is approached variably by authors in ancient Judaism. Within the Dead Sea Scrolls, both female and male enslaved gentiles may enter the "covenant of Abraham," according to the Damascus Document (CD XII, 10-11). For the male, this entrance would mean circumcision, in light of Abraham's circumcision on "the day of his knowledge" in CD XVI, 6, but what would this covenantal entrance entail for the enslaved woman? The present essay argues that within certain Dead Sea Scrolls (Temple Scroll and 4QDamascus fragments), the gentile enslaved woman enters through marriage and a sevenyear process of timed integration. This process calls to mind the maintaining of a Hebrew enslaved woman in the seventh year upon her expressed intent to remain in service, as found in Deut 15:17. The essay proposes that for female gentile converts in the sectarian movement, this seven-year process is chosen as a marker of "conversion" because it is considered the only viable expression of her intent to turn away from idolatry, as physical circumcision is not an option for her.

Dead Sea Scrolls, Revise and Repeat: New Methods and Perspectives, SBL EJL 52, eds. C. Palmer, A. Krause, E. Schuller, and J. Screnock, Sep 28, 2020

Tolerance, Intolerance, and Recognition in Early Christianity and Early Judaism, edited by Outi Lehtipuu and Michael Labahn, AUP, 2021

By analyzing how the term ger is used in the Dead Sea scrolls, particularly in relation to conver... more By analyzing how the term ger is used in the Dead Sea scrolls, particularly in relation to conversion, this article demonstrates the variety of attitudes in the community toward outsiders. One tradition reflects tolerance through a notion of mutable ethnicity: taking on Jewish kinship and connection to land, the Gentiles who converted became full members as ger. The scrolls also reflect another, more intolerant tradition in which the gerim (plur.) were inauthentic converts who had to be excluded from the community for reasons of kinship and religious practice.

Teaching Theology & Religion, 2018

This paper introduces Rewritten Scripture and scriptural rewriting as a creative process that, wh... more This paper introduces Rewritten Scripture and scriptural rewriting as a creative process that, when mirrored in a teaching exercise, may serve as an effective practice in teaching sacred texts. Observing changes made between scripture and its rewriting may allow readers to identify different contexts among these texts. Furthermore, the act of rewriting scripture mirrors descriptions of creativity, which itself is argued to be the highest level of cognitive operation in learning. Therefore, the paper shows how scriptural rewriting can be simultaneously the object of the lesson and the method of learning through a two-step teaching process, using an example of scriptural rewriting in a Dead Sea Scroll. The first step offers a way to understand the meaning of Rewritten Scripture and what exegetes can learn from it, while the second step engages creativity by practicing rewriting scripture itself.

Journal of the Jesus Movement in Its Jewish Setting, Vol. 7, 2020

Jewish Law Association Studies, Vol. 28, "The Jewish Family", 2019

Book Reviews by Carmen Palmer

Review of On Prophets, Warriors, and Kings: Former Prophets through the Eyes of Their Interpreters, eds. George J. Brooke and Ariel Feldman. DSD 25 (2018):129-131.

Accepted version: http://booksandjournals.brillonline.com/content/journals/15685179/25/1

Teaching Documents by Carmen Palmer

Carmen Palmer carmen.palmer@mail.utoronto.ca @callmescrolls 1

Course Description: The purpose of Intermediate Hebrew is to review and to build upon students' e... more Course Description: The purpose of Intermediate Hebrew is to review and to build upon students' existing knowledge of biblical Hebrew, achieved through the translation of focused readings that emphasize three different general areas. The three areas include the following: reviewing and broadening grammar pertaining to classical (biblical) Hebrew; comparing linguistic particularities among different styles (prose, poetry, legal, and prophetic); and comparing classical Hebrew with the Hebrew of the Dead Sea Scrolls and earlier rabbinic literature (the Mishnah). This course interprets " classical Hebrew " from the perspective of the majority of the Hebrew Bible (and not only Genesis-2 Kings), permitting us to analyze a range of texts. Students can utilize skills learned in this course for the sake of furthering their own reading and exegetical interests, as well as for further academic study.

Conference Presentations by Carmen Palmer

Silent yet Central: The Place of Enslaved Women within the Household in Greek Grave Steles and the Narratives of Judith and Esther

PDF of SBL 2024 San Diego paper handout, for the section Deuterocanonical and Cognate Literature ... more PDF of SBL 2024 San Diego paper handout, for the section Deuterocanonical and Cognate Literature (S25-213)