Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 16, 1993 TAG: 9305160215
SECTION: HORIZON PAGE: F-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Reviewed by NELSON HARRIS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
\ JESUS AND THE RIDDLE OF THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS. By Barbara Thiering. HarperCollins. $24.
Nearly five decades ago in a remote cave 25 miles east of Jerusalem, a young Bedouin shepherd stumbled across what was to become the greatest archaeological find of the 20th century - the Dead Sea Scrolls.
The Scrolls are, in short, a library of more than 800 texts housed, collected and used by the ancient Qumran community, east of Jerusalem. The Scrolls date to the first century A.D. and, therefore, are older than many of the books of the Old and New Testaments. They record what has to date remained a mystery, namely the development of rabbinic Judaism and Christianity during the pre-A.D. 70 period.
The debate and controversy surrounding these Scrolls have been no less exciting than an Indiana Jones film.
There have been multiple charges and countercharges launched on an international scale. Such scholarly attacks have been leveled at the Israeli government for its refusal to release the find to scholars outside Jerusalem, at the Vatican for supposedly covering up information from the Scrolls which could damage historical suppositions of the Church, at certain universities for their refusal to publish Scroll material.
Once friendly colleagues have become bitter enemies over the rush to interpret and give meaning to these ancient texts. The works of Shanks and Thiering are two examples of the barrage of literature which is being published on the subject.
"Understanding the Dead Sea Scrolls" provides an excellent overview of the controversy and the Scrolls themselves. Edited by Hershel Shanks of Biblical Archaeology Review magazine, the work contains a number of fine articles on the Scrolls which have appeared over the years in the Review. The writers are well known scholars from leading divinity schools and major universities.
The general emphasis of Shanks' book is that the Scrolls can and will provide insight into early Christianity and rabbinic Judaism. The Scrolls (at least those that have been published) do not mention specifically any Gospel or Jesus of Nazareth. Consequently, the Scrolls are not potential theological bombshells to be dropped on the foundations of the historic Judeo-Christian movement.
Barbara Thiering's "Jesus and the Riddle . . . " has a much different approach and interpretation. Thiering believes the Gospels of the New Testament are written with a subtext. It is this subtext which contains the real story of Jesus of Nazareth and the origins of Christianity. Employing a "pesher" technique, Thiering uses the Dead Sea Scrolls to interpret and give meaning to the Gospels.
In turn, the author portrays a radically different view of Jesus than that provided by the Christian tradition for two millennia. Ultimately she concludes that Jesus' divinity must be sacrificed to his humanity. Thiering and her work have been and will continue to be a source of controversy in Scroll studies. She has for many years taught at Sydney University in Australia and is well known in her country for work done on the Scrolls.
Neither of these works is definitive literature on this most important subject, nor do they claim to be. They do, however, demonstrate the diversity of opinion on the Scrolls among well known scholars. Time will tell how the Christian Church and Judaism will respond to this discovery, and whether additional scrolls are in the soil east of Jerusalem.
Nelson Harris is pastor of the Ridgewood Baptist Church.
by CNB