The Dead Sea Scrolls And The Nag Hammadi Codices

The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Nag Hammadi Codices

The discoveries of Coptic books containing “Gnostic” scriptures in Upper Egypt in 1945 and of the Dead Sea Scrolls near Khirbet Qumran in 1946 are commonly reckoned as the most important archaeological finds of the twentieth century for the study of early Christianity and ancient Judaism. Yet, impeded by academic insularity and delays in publication, scholars never conducted a full-scale, comparative investigation of these two sensational corpora—until now. Featuring articles by an all-star, international lineup of scholars, this book offers the first sustained, interdisciplinary study of the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Nag Hammadi Codices.

The Nag Hammadi Library in English

Freeing the Dead Sea Scrolls

A world-renowned biblical archaeology scholar, Hershel Shanks is the Founder and Editor of the Biblical Archaeology Review. Once a successful Washington Attorney, Shanks changed careers after a trip to the Holy Land and devoted himself to the study of biblical archaeology. When the Dead Sea Scrolls (1947-1956) were discovered, a complex tale of theft and conspiracy began in the world of biblical archaeology. Hershel Shanks, a chief protagonist in the story, spearheaded a campaign to release the scrolls to the wider scholarly community throughout the 1980s, using the Biblical Archaeology Review as a mouthpiece for the cause. Later Shanks' involvement greatly increased when he published reconstructed fascicles of the secret scrolls amidst much controversy. Shanks must be seen as one of the crucial factors that finally brought these vital tools of academic study, these Dead Sea Scrolls, to the wider world. Elsewhere Shanks' vigorous defense of the authenticity of the Ossuary - which is said to have contained the bones of The Brother of Jesus - is explored in one of the book's liveliest chapters.