The Oxford Handbook of the Dead Sea Scrolls

The Oxford Handbook of the Dead Sea Scrolls

Book Cover
Editors	Timothy H. Lim and John J. Collins
Language	English
Series	Oxford Handbooks
Subject	Dead Sea Scrolls
Publisher	Oxford University Press
Publication date	2010
Publication place	United Kingdom
Media type	Print hardcover
Pages	xx + 768
ISBN	978-0-19-920723-7
OCLC	606774425

The Oxford Handbook of the Dead Sea Scrolls is a large reference work on the Dead Sea Scrolls edited by Timothy H. Lim and John J. Collins, published by Oxford University Press in 2010. The volume assembles state-of-the-field essays by thirty scholars and concentrates on contested problems in archaeology, history, sectarian identity, textual criticism, scriptural interpretation, linguistics, religious themes, interactions with early Christianity and later Judaism, and methodological approaches.^[1][2]

The handbook is organized in eight parts following an editors introduction. Essays provide synthetic argumentation and independent bibliographies. ^[1]

The handbook frames Qumran archaeology through site specific analysis and mortuary data, then develops historiographic reconstruction via essays on the Teacher's movement and on the social presence of women.^[1] The sectarianism section models identity using textual and sociological evidence, compares classical testimonia on Essenes with Scrolls data, analyzes calendrical regimes as boundary markers, and locates Scrolls traditions within wider Enochic currents. The textual section surveys models of Hebrew Bible textual development after Qumran, defines scriptural authority by citation and interpretation practices, maps rewritten scripture as compositional process, tracks continuities with rabbinic exegesis, and profiles tri-lingual manuscript culture.^[2] The religious themes section quantifies ritual purity discourse and reassesses apocalyptic and messianic patterns, evaluates possible mystical backgrounds, synthesizes sapiential corpora, and tests claims of Iranian influence and penitential social forms.^[3] The final sections calibrate lines of comparison with early Christianity that avoid forced genealogies, then situate Scrolls halakhah and liturgy relative to later Judaism, and close with methodological and legal analyses of rhetoric, reader oriented theory, and authorship in light of modern case law. The editors state a programmatic intent to present divergent positions on disputed issues rather than reproduce a prior consensus.^[4]

Academic and specialist reviews identified the work as an authoritative synthesis focused on open questions in Scrolls research. Eileen M. Schuller reviewed the collection as a contribution that foregrounds areas of disagreement while assembling substantial bibliographies for further work.^[2] Daniel M. Gurtner emphasized the eight part structure and noted essays that recalibrate sectarian identity, calendrical systems, and textual models. He judged the comparative program with early Christianity as cautious and informative, and identified the methods section as significant for ongoing interpretation.^[5] Charlotte Hempel highlighted chapters that question assumptions about the centrality of a solar calendar for sect formation and about withdrawal from the Jerusalem Temple, and characterized the volume as representative of a plural textual and legal landscape in the Qumran corpus.^[6]

• "The Oxford Handbook of the Dead Sea Scrolls, hardcover page". Oxford University Press. Retrieved September 29, 2025.