Ian Werrett | Saint Martin's University (original) (raw)
Books by Ian Werrett
This book represents the first comprehensive study on the concept of ritual purity in the Dead Se... more This book represents the first comprehensive study on the concept of ritual purity in the Dead Sea Scrolls since the full publication of the legal material from Qumran. Utilizing an independent approach to the relevant documents from Qumran, this study discusses the primary and secondary literature on the five major categories of impurity in the scrolls (i.e., diseases, clean/unclean animals, corpses, bodily discharges, and sexual misdeeds). This examination is supported by a comparison between the scrolls' purity legislations and their biblical counterparts. The book culminates with a comparison between the purity rulings in the scrolls and a diachronic reading of the explicit agreements and disagreements found therein. The result is a far more comprehensive and nuanced interpretation than has been previously offered.
Papers by Ian Werrett
The Dead Sea Scrolls at Qumran and the Concept of a Library, 2016
To say that Pergamum and its rulers, the Attalids, lived in the shadow of their rivals the Ptolem... more To say that Pergamum and its rulers, the Attalids, lived in the shadow of their rivals the Ptolemies would be a massive understatement. In virtually every way possible, save the desire for greatness and prestige, the Attalids lagged far behind their Egyptian counterparts. At its zenith between the third and second century BCE, Alexandria, the capital city of the Ptolemaic dynasty, was an economic, artistic and intellectual juggernaut; boasting the wonder that was the Pharos of Alexandria, the largest library in the ancient world, and intellectual luminaries such as Euclid, Archimedes, and Eratosthenes. In the decades leading up to the turn of the millennium, the Ptolemies, through a series of aggressive acquisition tactics and financial enticements, succeeded in luring hundreds of scholars to Alexandria and securing over 500,000 scrolls for the city's edification. So enormous were the city's literary holdings that the Ptolemies were forced to open an annex or "daughter" library in a temple dedicated to Serapis, a syncretic god displaying Greek and Egyptian features that was created as a polemical tool by Ptolemy I (r. 323-283 BCE) to promote the successful blending of the Hellenistic and Egyptian cultures. When Eumenes II (r. 197-160 BCE), the Attalid ruler of Pergamum, attempted to create a library that would rival that of Alexandria, Ptolemy V (r. 204-180 BCE) took drastic measures: he imprisoned his head librarian, Aristophanes of Byzantium (c. 257-180 BCE), thereby dissuading Alexandria's literati from relocating to Pergamum.1 More damaging than this, however, was Ptolemy's decision to prohibit the exportation of papyrus. The Attalids responded to these slights by inventing parchment, or so the author Varro would have us believe, and although Varro's account is clearly apocryphal parchment undoubtedly played a part in the Attalids' ability to amass a significant collection of scrolls for their library.2 This success was short-lived, however, as Marc Anthony (83-30 BCE) would eventually confiscate and gift some 200,000 scrolls from the library of Pergamum to his Egyptian lover, Cleopatra VII Philopater (69-30 BCE), sometime before the Battle of Actium in 31 BCE.3
Purity and the Forming of Religious Traditions in the Ancient Mediterranean World and Ancient Judaism, 2013
Scribes and Their Remains - SSEJC & LSTS, 2019
It has often been said that the scribes of the Dead Sea Scrolls community appear to have had a “r... more It has often been said that the scribes of the Dead Sea Scrolls community appear to have had a “relaxed” or “liberal attitude” when it comes to the form of the books that would eventually become canonized as the Hebrew Bible. Not only do the “biblical” books from Qumran display a high degree of textual pluriformity, but so too do such as the Community Rule and Damascus Document. Numerous explanations have been forwarded concerning this phenomenon, but many of these hypotheses have been driven by a post-canonical mindset that fetishizes the Hebrew Bible and/or awards pride of place to those manuscripts that are the most intact. Given that the literacy rates in the Second Temple period were staggeringly low, and that the vast majority of individuals would have heard the stories of the “Bible” as opposed to reading, writing, or editing them, it stands to reason that the physical form of the written texts, be they “biblical” or some other genre, would have been influenced by the sensibilities and practices of the culture in which they were created. With that in mind, I will attempt to show how the scribes of the Second Temple period, and their writings, were affected by low literacy rates and the prevailing trends of the oral tradition. In so doing, I hope to challenge the notion that the Qumran community had a “relaxed” attitude towards textual pluriformity and move us closer to understanding the literary perspectives of those who lived in the waning days of the pre-canonical era.
Ritual Innovation in the Hebrew Bible and Early Judaism , Sep 2016
While there may be compelling evidence connecting the cemetery at Qumran to the site, such as the... more While there may be compelling evidence connecting the cemetery at Qumran to the site, such as their proximity to one another and their relative chronological dates, there are equally compelling reasons for us to be cautious when attempting to interpret the evidence from the cemetery through the lens of the Qumran Essene hypothesis, the witness of the scrolls, and/or the archaeological record of Qumran. In the ensuing discussion I will endeavour to discuss two separate, yet related, topics with regard to the cemetery at Qumran. First, I will examine how scholars have interpreted the supposedly idiosyncratic burial architecture at Qumran over the last six decades. And, second, I will try to determine whether any ritual innovations can be detected with regard to the construction and architecture of the shaft graves at Qumran.
The War Scroll, Violence, War and Peace in the Dead Sea Scrolls and Related Literature, Nov 2015
The Dead Sea Scrolls at Qumran and the Concept of a Library, Nov 2015
To say that Pergamum and its rulers, the Attalids, lived in the shadow of their rivals the Ptolem... more To say that Pergamum and its rulers, the Attalids, lived in the shadow of their rivals the Ptolemies would be a massive understatement. In virtually every way possible, save the desire for greatness and prestige, the Attalids' lagged far behind their Egyptian counterparts. At its zenith between the third and second century BCE, Alexandria, the capital city of the Ptolemaic dynasty, was an economic, artistic and intellectual juggernaut; boasting the wonder that was the Pharos of Alexandria, the largest library in the ancient world, and intellectual luminaries such as Euclid, Archimedes, and Eratosthenes. In the decades leading up to the turn of the millennium, the Ptolemies, through a series of aggressive acquisition tactics and financial enticements, succeeded in luring hundreds of scholars to Alexandria and securing over 500,000 scrolls for the city's edification. So enormous were the city's literary holdings that the Ptolemies were forced to open an annex or "daughter" library in a temple dedicated to Serapis, a syncretic god displaying
Bible Odyssey, Jul 3, 2014
Purity and the Forming of Religious Traditions in the Ancient Mediterranean World and Ancient Judaism, 2013
This World and the World to Come: Soteriology in Early …, Jan 1, 2011
§1. Introduction. One of the most interesting theological features in the documents from Qumran i... more §1. Introduction. One of the most interesting theological features in the documents from Qumran is an extreme form of dualism that divides the entirety of creation into two camps or opposing forces: the Sons of Light and the Sons of Darkness (1QS 3.13-4.14; 1QM 1.1-7). According to this bifurcated worldview, those who endeavour to understand God's deeds and engage in activities that are pleasing to Him are counted among the Sons of Light (1QS 3.20a). The wicked, by contrast, are ruled by the K#wx K)lm, or "angel of darkness," who manipulates and cajoles humans into turning their backs on God and walking along a sinful path of disobedience (1QS 3.20b-23a). Exemplars of these two camps are nearly ubiquitous in the writings from Qumran and the authors of these documents frequently used recognizable archetypes as a way to encourage their readers to adopt certain behaviours and avoid others. Where the sons of Noah and the Nephilim were seen as the poster children for disobedience and sinful activity (CD 2.17b-19; 3.1; cf., Gen 6; 1 Enoch 1-36; Jub 11.2), Abraham was held up as a paragon of faith and patience (CD 3.2-3a; cf., Gen 22; Jub 17.15-18). Although he had some competition from the likes of Enoch and Moses, Abraham's unshakeable faith and his elevated status as a "friend of God" (cf. Isa 41.8; 2 Chr 20.7) meant that he was frequently pressed into service by the Qumran community and other Second Temple theologians to function as the obedient Jew par excellence. The quintessential story of Abraham's unflappable faith is the Akedah or Binding of Isaac (Gen 22). In the biblical version of this tale, Abraham, the surprisingly spry centenarian, is asked by God to sacrifice Isaac, his wife's only son, as a burnt offering on the summit of a mountain in the land of Moriah, a place that would, according to tradition, become the very spot where the Jewish temple would be erected (cf. 2 Chr 3.1). Many questions are left unanswered by the account of this story in Genesis-a fact that was not lost on the Jews of the Second Temple period. In particular, why would God ask an aged Abraham to sacrifice his only legitimate son when the Lord had already agreed to make Abraham's offspring as numerous as the stars in the sky (Gen 15.1-6)? Moreover, if God were omniscient, why would He need to test Abraham's resolve by asking him to do something that God already knows he will do? These and other questions regarding the ambiguity of Scripture fired the imagination of Jewish theologians during the Second Temple period and it inspired some scribes to address these ambiguities by engaging in a variety of exegetical and interpretive practices, such as gap-filling, homogenization, conflation, and the creation of a type of literature that modern scholars refer to as "rewritten Scripture" or "rewritten Bible." 1 This explosion of scribal activity and dialog with the material that would eventually become the Hebrew Bible resulted in the creation of numerous pseudepigraphic and apocryphal composi-1 For discussions on these terms, see Sidnie White Crawford, Rewriting Scripture in Second Temple Times
In the fall of 2006, dozens of mainstream media outlets began reporting on the discovery of a pur... more In the fall of 2006, dozens of mainstream media outlets began reporting on the discovery of a purportedly ancient latrine to the northwest of Qumran, which, according to a subsequent article in Revue de Qumran by Joe Zias, James Tabor, and Stephanie Harter-Lailheugue,[2] proves that the individuals who lived at the site of Qumran during the Second Temple period were none other than the Jewish sect known as the Essenes. Based upon the witness of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the writings of Josephus, and newly acquired parasitological evidence from the Qumran plateau, Zias et al. concluded: "This important new evidence bolsters the Essene hypothesis by corroborating the descriptions of this distinctive toilet regimen in both the Scrolls and Josephus."[3] By the spring of 2007, Zias and Tabor's theory had, in the eyes of many non-specialists, become an indisputable fact. Take, for example, the following excerpt from Archaeology magazine: An ancient latrine near the ruins of Qumran follows the unusual and stringent guidelines in both the Dead Sea Scrolls and historical accounts of the strict Jewish Essene sect-directly linking the sect, the scrolls, and the settlement as never before. The latrine was required to be hidden a specific distance northwest of the city, but it may have been unsanitary, thus contributing to the poor health of Qumran's ancient residents.[4] Although the Qumran/Essene hypothesis is arguably the most convincing explanation for the textual and archaeological evidence thus far recovered from the region in and around Khirbet Qumran, one of the great drawbacks of this theory is that it has so completely dominated the landscape of Dead Sea Scrolls research that we are frequently unable to see beyond the shadow that it casts. This is particularly true in regards to the work of Zias and Tabor: rather than allowing the archaeological and literary evidence to speak for themselves, they have attempted to validate the Qumran/Essene hypothesis by actively searching the Qumran plateau for evidence that supports the witness of Josephus and the Scrolls. This observation is confirmed by the authors themselves when, in describing the rationale behind their study,
Northern Lights on the Dead Sea Scrolls, Jan 1, 2009
Revue de Qumran 23/4 (2008): 475-89
Book Reviews by Ian Werrett
Dead Sea Discoveries, 2013
Journal of Catholic Education, 2012
Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 2020
This book represents the first comprehensive study on the concept of ritual purity in the Dead Se... more This book represents the first comprehensive study on the concept of ritual purity in the Dead Sea Scrolls since the full publication of the legal material from Qumran. Utilizing an independent approach to the relevant documents from Qumran, this study discusses the primary and secondary literature on the five major categories of impurity in the scrolls (i.e., diseases, clean/unclean animals, corpses, bodily discharges, and sexual misdeeds). This examination is supported by a comparison between the scrolls' purity legislations and their biblical counterparts. The book culminates with a comparison between the purity rulings in the scrolls and a diachronic reading of the explicit agreements and disagreements found therein. The result is a far more comprehensive and nuanced interpretation than has been previously offered.
The Dead Sea Scrolls at Qumran and the Concept of a Library, 2016
To say that Pergamum and its rulers, the Attalids, lived in the shadow of their rivals the Ptolem... more To say that Pergamum and its rulers, the Attalids, lived in the shadow of their rivals the Ptolemies would be a massive understatement. In virtually every way possible, save the desire for greatness and prestige, the Attalids lagged far behind their Egyptian counterparts. At its zenith between the third and second century BCE, Alexandria, the capital city of the Ptolemaic dynasty, was an economic, artistic and intellectual juggernaut; boasting the wonder that was the Pharos of Alexandria, the largest library in the ancient world, and intellectual luminaries such as Euclid, Archimedes, and Eratosthenes. In the decades leading up to the turn of the millennium, the Ptolemies, through a series of aggressive acquisition tactics and financial enticements, succeeded in luring hundreds of scholars to Alexandria and securing over 500,000 scrolls for the city's edification. So enormous were the city's literary holdings that the Ptolemies were forced to open an annex or "daughter" library in a temple dedicated to Serapis, a syncretic god displaying Greek and Egyptian features that was created as a polemical tool by Ptolemy I (r. 323-283 BCE) to promote the successful blending of the Hellenistic and Egyptian cultures. When Eumenes II (r. 197-160 BCE), the Attalid ruler of Pergamum, attempted to create a library that would rival that of Alexandria, Ptolemy V (r. 204-180 BCE) took drastic measures: he imprisoned his head librarian, Aristophanes of Byzantium (c. 257-180 BCE), thereby dissuading Alexandria's literati from relocating to Pergamum.1 More damaging than this, however, was Ptolemy's decision to prohibit the exportation of papyrus. The Attalids responded to these slights by inventing parchment, or so the author Varro would have us believe, and although Varro's account is clearly apocryphal parchment undoubtedly played a part in the Attalids' ability to amass a significant collection of scrolls for their library.2 This success was short-lived, however, as Marc Anthony (83-30 BCE) would eventually confiscate and gift some 200,000 scrolls from the library of Pergamum to his Egyptian lover, Cleopatra VII Philopater (69-30 BCE), sometime before the Battle of Actium in 31 BCE.3
Purity and the Forming of Religious Traditions in the Ancient Mediterranean World and Ancient Judaism, 2013
Scribes and Their Remains - SSEJC & LSTS, 2019
It has often been said that the scribes of the Dead Sea Scrolls community appear to have had a “r... more It has often been said that the scribes of the Dead Sea Scrolls community appear to have had a “relaxed” or “liberal attitude” when it comes to the form of the books that would eventually become canonized as the Hebrew Bible. Not only do the “biblical” books from Qumran display a high degree of textual pluriformity, but so too do such as the Community Rule and Damascus Document. Numerous explanations have been forwarded concerning this phenomenon, but many of these hypotheses have been driven by a post-canonical mindset that fetishizes the Hebrew Bible and/or awards pride of place to those manuscripts that are the most intact. Given that the literacy rates in the Second Temple period were staggeringly low, and that the vast majority of individuals would have heard the stories of the “Bible” as opposed to reading, writing, or editing them, it stands to reason that the physical form of the written texts, be they “biblical” or some other genre, would have been influenced by the sensibilities and practices of the culture in which they were created. With that in mind, I will attempt to show how the scribes of the Second Temple period, and their writings, were affected by low literacy rates and the prevailing trends of the oral tradition. In so doing, I hope to challenge the notion that the Qumran community had a “relaxed” attitude towards textual pluriformity and move us closer to understanding the literary perspectives of those who lived in the waning days of the pre-canonical era.
Ritual Innovation in the Hebrew Bible and Early Judaism , Sep 2016
While there may be compelling evidence connecting the cemetery at Qumran to the site, such as the... more While there may be compelling evidence connecting the cemetery at Qumran to the site, such as their proximity to one another and their relative chronological dates, there are equally compelling reasons for us to be cautious when attempting to interpret the evidence from the cemetery through the lens of the Qumran Essene hypothesis, the witness of the scrolls, and/or the archaeological record of Qumran. In the ensuing discussion I will endeavour to discuss two separate, yet related, topics with regard to the cemetery at Qumran. First, I will examine how scholars have interpreted the supposedly idiosyncratic burial architecture at Qumran over the last six decades. And, second, I will try to determine whether any ritual innovations can be detected with regard to the construction and architecture of the shaft graves at Qumran.
The War Scroll, Violence, War and Peace in the Dead Sea Scrolls and Related Literature, Nov 2015
The Dead Sea Scrolls at Qumran and the Concept of a Library, Nov 2015
To say that Pergamum and its rulers, the Attalids, lived in the shadow of their rivals the Ptolem... more To say that Pergamum and its rulers, the Attalids, lived in the shadow of their rivals the Ptolemies would be a massive understatement. In virtually every way possible, save the desire for greatness and prestige, the Attalids' lagged far behind their Egyptian counterparts. At its zenith between the third and second century BCE, Alexandria, the capital city of the Ptolemaic dynasty, was an economic, artistic and intellectual juggernaut; boasting the wonder that was the Pharos of Alexandria, the largest library in the ancient world, and intellectual luminaries such as Euclid, Archimedes, and Eratosthenes. In the decades leading up to the turn of the millennium, the Ptolemies, through a series of aggressive acquisition tactics and financial enticements, succeeded in luring hundreds of scholars to Alexandria and securing over 500,000 scrolls for the city's edification. So enormous were the city's literary holdings that the Ptolemies were forced to open an annex or "daughter" library in a temple dedicated to Serapis, a syncretic god displaying
Bible Odyssey, Jul 3, 2014
Purity and the Forming of Religious Traditions in the Ancient Mediterranean World and Ancient Judaism, 2013
This World and the World to Come: Soteriology in Early …, Jan 1, 2011
§1. Introduction. One of the most interesting theological features in the documents from Qumran i... more §1. Introduction. One of the most interesting theological features in the documents from Qumran is an extreme form of dualism that divides the entirety of creation into two camps or opposing forces: the Sons of Light and the Sons of Darkness (1QS 3.13-4.14; 1QM 1.1-7). According to this bifurcated worldview, those who endeavour to understand God's deeds and engage in activities that are pleasing to Him are counted among the Sons of Light (1QS 3.20a). The wicked, by contrast, are ruled by the K#wx K)lm, or "angel of darkness," who manipulates and cajoles humans into turning their backs on God and walking along a sinful path of disobedience (1QS 3.20b-23a). Exemplars of these two camps are nearly ubiquitous in the writings from Qumran and the authors of these documents frequently used recognizable archetypes as a way to encourage their readers to adopt certain behaviours and avoid others. Where the sons of Noah and the Nephilim were seen as the poster children for disobedience and sinful activity (CD 2.17b-19; 3.1; cf., Gen 6; 1 Enoch 1-36; Jub 11.2), Abraham was held up as a paragon of faith and patience (CD 3.2-3a; cf., Gen 22; Jub 17.15-18). Although he had some competition from the likes of Enoch and Moses, Abraham's unshakeable faith and his elevated status as a "friend of God" (cf. Isa 41.8; 2 Chr 20.7) meant that he was frequently pressed into service by the Qumran community and other Second Temple theologians to function as the obedient Jew par excellence. The quintessential story of Abraham's unflappable faith is the Akedah or Binding of Isaac (Gen 22). In the biblical version of this tale, Abraham, the surprisingly spry centenarian, is asked by God to sacrifice Isaac, his wife's only son, as a burnt offering on the summit of a mountain in the land of Moriah, a place that would, according to tradition, become the very spot where the Jewish temple would be erected (cf. 2 Chr 3.1). Many questions are left unanswered by the account of this story in Genesis-a fact that was not lost on the Jews of the Second Temple period. In particular, why would God ask an aged Abraham to sacrifice his only legitimate son when the Lord had already agreed to make Abraham's offspring as numerous as the stars in the sky (Gen 15.1-6)? Moreover, if God were omniscient, why would He need to test Abraham's resolve by asking him to do something that God already knows he will do? These and other questions regarding the ambiguity of Scripture fired the imagination of Jewish theologians during the Second Temple period and it inspired some scribes to address these ambiguities by engaging in a variety of exegetical and interpretive practices, such as gap-filling, homogenization, conflation, and the creation of a type of literature that modern scholars refer to as "rewritten Scripture" or "rewritten Bible." 1 This explosion of scribal activity and dialog with the material that would eventually become the Hebrew Bible resulted in the creation of numerous pseudepigraphic and apocryphal composi-1 For discussions on these terms, see Sidnie White Crawford, Rewriting Scripture in Second Temple Times
In the fall of 2006, dozens of mainstream media outlets began reporting on the discovery of a pur... more In the fall of 2006, dozens of mainstream media outlets began reporting on the discovery of a purportedly ancient latrine to the northwest of Qumran, which, according to a subsequent article in Revue de Qumran by Joe Zias, James Tabor, and Stephanie Harter-Lailheugue,[2] proves that the individuals who lived at the site of Qumran during the Second Temple period were none other than the Jewish sect known as the Essenes. Based upon the witness of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the writings of Josephus, and newly acquired parasitological evidence from the Qumran plateau, Zias et al. concluded: "This important new evidence bolsters the Essene hypothesis by corroborating the descriptions of this distinctive toilet regimen in both the Scrolls and Josephus."[3] By the spring of 2007, Zias and Tabor's theory had, in the eyes of many non-specialists, become an indisputable fact. Take, for example, the following excerpt from Archaeology magazine: An ancient latrine near the ruins of Qumran follows the unusual and stringent guidelines in both the Dead Sea Scrolls and historical accounts of the strict Jewish Essene sect-directly linking the sect, the scrolls, and the settlement as never before. The latrine was required to be hidden a specific distance northwest of the city, but it may have been unsanitary, thus contributing to the poor health of Qumran's ancient residents.[4] Although the Qumran/Essene hypothesis is arguably the most convincing explanation for the textual and archaeological evidence thus far recovered from the region in and around Khirbet Qumran, one of the great drawbacks of this theory is that it has so completely dominated the landscape of Dead Sea Scrolls research that we are frequently unable to see beyond the shadow that it casts. This is particularly true in regards to the work of Zias and Tabor: rather than allowing the archaeological and literary evidence to speak for themselves, they have attempted to validate the Qumran/Essene hypothesis by actively searching the Qumran plateau for evidence that supports the witness of Josephus and the Scrolls. This observation is confirmed by the authors themselves when, in describing the rationale behind their study,
Northern Lights on the Dead Sea Scrolls, Jan 1, 2009
Revue de Qumran 23/4 (2008): 475-89
Dead Sea Discoveries, 2013
Journal of Catholic Education, 2012
Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 2020
Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 2020
Review of Biblical Literature, 2020
Everybody loves an underdog, or so it is said. From the defeat of the heavily favored USSR Olympi... more Everybody loves an underdog, or so it is said. From the defeat of the heavily favored USSR Olympic hockey team by an amateur squad from the USA at Lack Placid in 1980 to movies such as Rocky and Rudy, stories about those who win in the face of overwhelming odds are deeply satisfying to sports fans and theater goers alike. It is easy to see why. Not only do such narratives validate the idea that anything is possible, but they run counter to the prevailing wisdom that only the strongest and most well established will be victorious. On those rare occasions, however, when the unexpected happens and the small fry prevails, traditional ways of thinking are challenged, thought worlds reshaped. In the field of biblical studies, those who defend and promote the central place of orality and performance in the compositional history of biblical literature are the perennial underdogs. By contrast, the reigning champions are those who have elevated the significance and importance of Ur-texts, Endtexts, and the written word above all else. But, as publications such as Richard Horsley's Text and Tradition in Performance and Writing have shown, the tide is turning. While Horsley is no doubt correct when he says that the "implications of oral communication as the medium in which New Testament texts originated will be resisted" (29), it is no longer a question of if the underdogs will win but when.
Journal for the Study of Judaism , 2015
Revue de Qumran , Dec 2014
RBL 2013
The Use of Sobriquets in the Qumran Dead Sea Scrolls, by Matthew A. Collins, is a revised and upd... more The Use of Sobriquets in the Qumran Dead Sea Scrolls, by Matthew A. Collins, is a revised and updated version of the author's Ph.D. dissertation, which was submitted at the University of Bristol in the fall of 2006. Focusing specifically on the documents that were recovered from the eleven caves near the site of Khirbet Qumran, Collins's primary goal in this volume is to locate evidence in the scrolls indicating that the usage and meaning of key sobriquets, such as "the Teacher of Righteousness" qdch hrwm and "the Spouter of the Lie" bzkh Py+m, evolved from indefinite descriptions into definite appellatives. In
Dead Sea Discoveries 20 (2013) 143–177
Catholic Education (Sept 2012)
Ioudaios Review, May 2002
God: A Human History, 2017
Worked as a researcher and fact-checker for Reza Aslan's best-selling monograph - God: A Human Hi... more Worked as a researcher and fact-checker for Reza Aslan's best-selling monograph - God: A Human History
Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth, 2013
Provided all Hebrew and Aramaic translations of the Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls for Reza Aslan... more Provided all Hebrew and Aramaic translations of the Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls for Reza Aslan's best selling book _Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth_
Presented during the 2021 Nangeroni conference on John the Baptist, organized by the Enoch Semina... more Presented during the 2021 Nangeroni conference on John the Baptist, organized by the Enoch Seminar in collaboration with the Journal for the Study of the Historical Jesus.
The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls - occurring on the eve of the birth of the modern Israeli n... more The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls - occurring on the eve of the birth of the modern Israeli nation-state in 1948 - provided a deep and meaningful symbol for the Zionist movement’s claims to the land and its sovereignty. Not only were the scrolls written by Jews who lived in the Judaean Desert some two millennia earlier, but these documents record the beliefs and practices of a pious community who understood themselves to be the rightful heirs to the Abrahamic Covenant and the one true Israel. Like the Jews of the Diaspora, the Dead Sea Scroll community lived in exile (albeit self-imposed), struggled under the weight of foreign rulers, and wrestled with their co-religionists over the right to define what it meant to be a Jew. In short, the Dead Sea Scrolls have, according to Neil Asher Silberman, provided the architects of the Israeli nation-state with a “poetic validation for modern Jewish settlement …” In this paper, I will compare the nationalistic aspirations of the Dead Sea Scroll community with those of the modern state of Israel and show how archaeology, and the scrolls themselves, have been consistently pressed into service by politicians and patriots alike in an ongoing effort to buttress the legitimacy of the nation-state.
Submitted for review, 2019
A revised and expanded version of a presentation given at the Orion Center's symposium "The Dead ... more A revised and expanded version of a presentation given at the Orion Center's symposium "The Dead Sea Scrolls at Seventy: "Clear a Path in the Wilderness" - May 3, 2018. This paper asserts, in part, that the authors of the Gospel of Mark and Dead Sea Scrolls understood unclean spirits not as a literal description of the spirit realm or of demons; rather, such references were intended to function as metaphorical descriptions of the human mind and its capacity to render a person morally unclean through illicit thoughts or an unwillingness to accept certain teachings.