scholarly journals Tales of saviours and iconoclasts. On the provenance of "the Dead Sea Scrolls of Buddhism"

2021 ◽  
Vol 32 (18 N.S.) ◽  
pp. 125-146
Author(s):  
Josephine Munch Rasmussen ◽  
Årstein Justnes
Keyword(s):  
Early Christianity ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Dead Sea Scrolls ◽  
Dead Sea ◽  
Archaeological Material ◽  
Antiquities Market ◽  
The Dead ◽  
Archaeological Excavations

Academic research on newly discovered ancient Buddhist manuscripts is largely based on objects that come from the antiquities market and to a much lesser degree on objects coming from documented and controlled archaeological excavations. Despite their being unprovenanced, collectors and scholars often present such objects with narratives mimicking provenance. The use of the label "Dead Sea Scrolls" attached to archaeological material without connections to Judaism or early Christianity is a prevalent example of this scholarly praxis. In this article, we deconstruct provenance narratives associated with the undocumented Buddhist manuscripts in the Schøyen Collection and discuss their implications for research on these manuscripts and beyond.   On cover:ANNIBALE CARRACCI (BOLOGNA 1560 - ROME 1609), An Allegory of Truth and Time c. 1584-1585.Oil on canvas | 130,0 x 169,6 cm. (support, canvas/panel/str external) | RCIN 404770Royal Collection Trust / © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2021.

Early Christianity and the Dead Sea Scrolls

1994 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
pp. 82-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. J. Geller
Keyword(s):  
Early Christianity ◽  
Dead Sea Scrolls ◽  
Dead Sea ◽  
Early Church ◽  
Legal Practice ◽  
Marriage Contracts ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Legal Innovation ◽  
The Dead ◽  
Sectarian Group

One of the fundamental innovations of the early Church was the abolition of an ancient, venerable institution—divorce, the practice of which was as widespread as marriage itself. The explicit ban on divorce found in the Gospels ran counter to legal systems of the known world, with one notable exception: among the sectarian group whose rules are enshrined in the Dead Sea Scrolls, a stance against divorce can be verified, implying that a legal innovation of early Christianity can be tracked back to its origins in Sectarian Judaism.By the time Christianity was emerging, marriage and divorce had already co-existed for a long time; in Mesopotamia marriage contracts had for two millennia been anticipating the possibility of divorce, with litigation governing the dissolution of marriage and division of properties. The best evidence, however, for the precursors to late Hellenistic (i.e. pagan, Jewish, and Christian) legal practice derives from a group of Neo-Babylonian marriage contracts dating from the seventh to third centuries B.C.

scholarly journals Die uitbouing van die Bybelse kanon in antieke Judaïsme en die vroeë Christendom

2015 ◽  
Vol 71 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jörg Frey
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Early Christianity ◽  
Dead Sea Scrolls ◽  
Dead Sea ◽  
Ancient Judaism ◽  
Canonical Process ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Dead

The development of the biblical canon in ancient Judaism and early Christianity. A brief account of the process of the development of both the Jewish and the bipartite Christian canon is given. It is argued that due to insights gained from recent textual discoveries, especially the Dead Sea Scrolls (Qumran texts), earlier theories about the history of canonisation had to be reviewed. With the New Testament canon the authors focus on the influence of Marcion as well as the various other factors that played a role in the process of canonisation. It is shown that canonisation was the result of a complicated and variegated canonical process. But in spite of the problems of the criteria used and other factors involved, the biblical canon is theologically valuable and ‘well-chosen’.

The Dead Sea Scrolls and Early Christianity

1957 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Morris Ashcraft
Keyword(s):  
Early Christianity ◽  
Dead Sea Scrolls ◽  
Dead Sea ◽  
The Dead

11. The scrolls and early Christianity

2017 ◽  
pp. 113-122
Author(s):  
Timothy H. Lim
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Early Christianity ◽  
Dead Sea Scrolls ◽  
Dead Sea ◽  
Early Church ◽  
The Dead

‘The scrolls and early Christianity’ looks at what the Dead Sea Scrolls can tell us about Christianity. Any link between the Dead Sea Scrolls and the early Church generates a great deal of sensationalism. Some say that the scrolls are New Testament documents that depict Jesus. For instance, one fragment apparently tells of a ‘slain prince [or messiah]’. In fact, the prince was actually slaying someone else—oddities in vowel and suffix use in ancient Hebrew give rise to the misinterpretation. Another theory suggests that there was a common sectarian matrix in use at the birth of Christianity, meaning that one sect could use words very differently to another.

scholarly journals More Dubious Dead Sea Scrolls

2021 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-37
Author(s):  
Årstein Justnes ◽  
Josephine Munch Rasmussen
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Dead Sea Scrolls ◽  
Dead Sea ◽  
Substantial Part ◽  
Antiquities Market ◽  
The Dead

Abstract In the course of the last eighteen years more than 75 new “Dead Sea Scrolls” fragments have surfaced on the antiquities market. These are commonly referred to as post-2002 Dead Sea Scrolls-like fragments. A growing number of scholars regard a substantial part of them as forgeries. In this article, we will discuss four more dubious fragments, but this time from the 20th Century—or at least from pre-2002. Two of the fragments have been known since the late nineties and are published in the DJD series. One was published in Revue de Qumran (2003), and one in Gleanings from the Caves (2016). All four are today accepted as part of the Dead Sea Scrolls dataset even though they are unprovenanced and have made-up—or at least very adaptable—lists of previous owners. In this article, we will critically review their provenance and discuss the lack of proper interest in provenance on the part of the collector who owns them and the scholars who published them.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document