Lawrence H. Schiffman
Author of Reclaiming the Dead Sea Scrolls: The History of Judaism, the Background of Christianity, the Lost Library of Qumran
About the Author
Lawrence Schiffman is chairman of the Skirball Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies at New York University. His previous books include Reclaiming the Dead Sea Scrolls and From Text to Tradition: A History of Judaism in Second Temple and Rabbinic Times.
Image credit: Prof. Lawrence H. Schiffman (courtesy of the author) New York University faculty page
Works by Lawrence H. Schiffman
Reclaiming the Dead Sea Scrolls: The History of Judaism, the Background of Christianity, the Lost Library of Qumran (1994) 215 copies
From Text to Tradition, a History of Judaism in Second Temple and Rabbinic Times: A History of Second Temple and… (1991) 211 copies
Texts and Traditions: A Source Reader for the Study of Second Temple and Rabbinic Judaism (1997) 98 copies
Qumran and Jerusalem: Studies in the Dead Sea Scrolls and the History of Judaism (Studies in the Dead Sea Scrolls and… (2010) 49 copies
Ki Baruch Hu: Ancient Near Eastern, Biblical, and Judaic Studies in Honor of Baruch A. Levine (1999) — Editor — 26 copies
The Eschatological Community of the Dead Sea Scrolls (Society of Biblical Literature Monograph Series) (1989) 21 copies
Sectarian Law in the Dead Sea Scrolls: Courts, Testimony and the Penal Code (Brown Judaic Studies 33) (1983) 12 copies
Semitic Papyrology in Context: A Climate of Creativity. : Papers from a New York University Conference Marking the… (2003) — Editor — 8 copies
The Courtyards of the House of the Lord: Studies on the Temple Scroll (Studies on the Texts of the Desert of Judah) (2008) 7 copies
Archaeology and History in the Dead Sea Scrolls: The New York University Conference in Memory of Yigael Yadin… (1990) 5 copies
The Dead Sea scrolls fifty years after their discovery : proceedings of the Jerusalem Congress, July 20-25, 1997 (2000) 5 copies
Go Out and Study the Land Judges 18:2: Archaeological, Historical and Textual Studies in Honor of Hanan Eshel… (2011) — Editor — 3 copies
Hebrew and Aramaic incantation texts from the Cairo Genizah : selected texts from Taylor-Schechter Box K1 (1992) 3 copies
The Dead Sea scrolls at 60 : scholarly contributions of New York University faculty and alumni (2010) — Editor; Contributor — 3 copies
The Temple Scroll 11Q19, 11Q20, 11Q21, 4Q524, 5Q21 with 4Q365a (Dead Sea Scrolls Editions, 1) (2021) 2 copies
New Light On The Pharisees 1 copy
Associated Works
Pomegranates and Golden Bells: Studies in Biblical, Jewish, and Near Eastern Ritual, Law and Literature in Honor of… (1995) — Contributor — 38 copies
The Galilee in Late Antiquity (Jewish Theological Seminary of America) (1992) — Contributor — 37 copies
The Community of the Renewed Covenant: The Notre Dame Symposium on the Dead Sea Scrolls (Christianity and Judaism in… (1994) — Contributor — 20 copies
Jews, Christians and Polytheists in the Ancient Synagogue (Baltic Studies in the History of Judaism) (1999) — Contributor — 19 copies
The Idea of Biblical Interpretation: Essays in Honor of James L. Kugel (Supplements to the Journal for the Study of… (2004) — Contributor — 17 copies
The Temple of Jerusalem: From Moses to the Messiah: In Honor of Professor Louis H. Feldman (Brill Reference Library of… (2011) — Contributor — 9 copies
Restoration: Old Testament, Jewish, and Christian Perspectives (Supplements to the Journal for the Study of Judaism) (1656) — Contributor — 7 copies
The Damascus Document: A Centennial of Discovery : Proceedings of the Third International Symposium of the Orion Center… (1999) — Contributor — 7 copies
Law in the Documents of the Judaean Desert (Supplements to the Journal for the Study of Judaism) (2005) — Contributor — 5 copies
New perspectives on old texts proceedings of the Tenth International Symposium of the Orion Center for the Study of the… (2010) — Contributor — 4 copies
Biblical Perspectives: Early Use and Interpretation of the Bible in Light of the Dead Sea Scrolls : Proceedings of the… (1998) — Contributor — 3 copies
The Dead Sea Scrolls As Background to Postbiblical Judaism and Early Christianity: Papers from an International… (2002) — Contributor — 2 copies
The Quest for Context and Meaning: Studies in Biblical Intertextuality in Honor of James A. Sanders (1997) — Contributor — 2 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1948
- Gender
- male
- Nationality
- USA
- Places of residence
- New York, New York, USA
- Education
- Brandeis (PHD|Near Eastern and Judaic studies)
Brandeis (MA|Near Eastern and Judaic studies)
Brandeis (BA|Near Eastern and Judaic studies) - Occupations
- Professor
Members
Reviews
Awards
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Statistics
- Works
- 40
- Also by
- 18
- Members
- 919
- Popularity
- #27,917
- Rating
- 4.0
- Reviews
- 3
- ISBNs
- 65
- Languages
- 4
- Favorited
- 1
I knew very little about the Dead Sea Scrolls before I listened to this book. It was a very good introduction to the topic which covered a little bit of everything about the scrolls. They aren't really scrolls anymore. They used to be but they laid up in jars for 2,000 years and now they are fragments of paper with writing on them that are like a jigsaw puzzle to try to read. The jars were just storage jars from that time and were not adapted to storage of documents. As I was listening I was thinking of them sitting there for 2,000 years waiting to be found. A documentary snapshot of a very different way of life. The lecturer provides a lot of detail about what is in the scrolls and gives the listener an idea of what it was like to live in Qumran.
The lecturer does a good job of educating the reader about what the Dead Sea Scrolls are and what they are not. What they are is what left of the library of a Jewish sect that flourished during the Second Temple period which ended with the Roman destruction of the Temple in 70 CE. They have large portions of the Hebrew Bible and a big section on the rules of the day to day life of the sect. They were most likely a group of Essenes who lived a communal life strictly regulated by their religion. They are not documents that have anything to do with the beginning of Christianity. They discuss the Jewish messianic tradition but there is no mention of Jesus Christ or any early Christian doctrines.
Pieces of the scrolls surfaced as far back as 1897. A Bedouin family found them again in 1947 and began selling fragments. In the 1967 war Israel took possession of the scrolls that had been found and the area where the Qumran library was located. They have now all been published with translations and are available to anyone with a library card.
Finding the scrolls was probably the greatest archaeological find of the 20th century. I recommend the book highly for the fascinating knowledge it contains and look forward to listening to it again.… (more)