the-bible-and-the-dead-sea-scrolls

JAMES H. CHARLESWORTH xxxi
began to take definitive shape. There should now not be any doubt that
Jesus should be studied “within” Judaism and that the Palestinian Jesus
Movement (once called “the early church”) was a group (or sect) that was
part of Second Temple Judaism (or Early Judaism). Hence, “Christianity”
developed within and evolved out of Early Judaism.
In summation, research on the Dead Sea Scrolls has sensationally
enriched our understanding of the Hebrew Bible (and enabled us to
improve our primary texts), the Judaism of Hillel and Jesus, and the
complex creativity of Second Temple Judaism from Dan to Beersheba.
Dead Sea Scrolls research has especially clarified our view of Judaism in
ancient Israel before the burning of the Temple by the Roman legions in
70 C.E., just two years after they destroyed Qumran. All those who have
endeavored to polish their work for these volumes will surely join with
me in hoping that these discoveries and perspectives will help pave the
way for a third millennium less corrupt and more livable than the twentieth
century, with its barbed-wire boundaries, genocides, Holocaust,
and atomic bombs.
JHC
George L. Collord Professor of New Testament Language and Literature
Director of the PTS Dead Sea Scrolls Project
Princeton Theological Seminary
February 2005