Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls
Revealing the Jewish Roots of Christianity
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A major new work on the Dead Sea Scrolls, the oldest sacred documents of Judaism, which reveals their surprising connections to early Christianity.
“A luminous treatment of a fascinating subject! Highly recommended!”—Scott Hahn, author of The Fourth Cup
From award-winning scholar John Bergsma comes an intriguing book that reveals new insights on the Essenes, a radical Jewish community predating Christianity, whose existence, beliefs, and practices are often overlooked in the annuls of history. Bergsma reveals how this Jewish sect directly influenced the beliefs, sacraments, and practices of early Christianity and offers new information on how Christians lived their lives, worshipped, and eventually went on to influence the Roman Empire and Western civilization. Looking to Hebrew scripture and Jewish tradition, Bergsma helps to further explain how a simple Jewish peasant could go on to inspire a religion and a philosophy that still resonates 2,000 years later.
In this enriching and exciting exploration, Bergsma demonstrates how the Dead Sea Scrolls—the world's greatest modern archaeological discovery—can shed light on the Church as a sacred society that offered hope, redemption, and salvation to its member. Ultimately, these mysterious writings are a time machine that can transport us back to the ancient world, deepen our appreciation of Scripture, and strengthen our understanding of the Christian faith.
“An accessible introduction . . . This is a handy entry point for readers unfamiliar with Essenes or those interested in the Dead Sea Scrolls.”—Publishers Weekly
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Bergsma (Stunned by Scripture), theology professor at the Franciscan University of Steubenville, provides an accessible introduction to parallels between the Essenes (an ancient Jewish community) and Christian doctrine. In chapters looking at the Dead Sea Scrolls remnants of the Essenes' library at Qumran Bergsma explores topics such as marriage and celibacy, and the timing of the Last Supper. His observations buttress the uncontroversial view that the scrolls shed light on "the time period of Jesus and the early growth of the Church." As he summarizes: "In structure, liturgy, and theology, the Essenes and early Christians were remarkably similar, but they diverged sharply" on some major things, such as Christ's divinity. The work's biggest weakness is in speculating beyond what is provable according to current scholarship. Bergsma contends that it's significant that more copies of the Book of Tobit (which is not accepted as scripture by Jews or Protestants) were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls than the number of copies of canonical books. But his argument that the Essenes found that text inspiring ignores the fact that the Dead Sea Scrolls that have been recovered do not represent a complete record of the Essenes' texts. Despite this, this is a handy entry point for readers unfamiliar with the Essenes or those interested in the Dead Sea Scrolls.
