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The Dead Sea Scrolls cover art

The Dead Sea Scrolls

By: Gary A. Rendsburg,The Great Courses
Narrated by: Gary A. Rendsburg
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Editor reviews

The Dead Sea Scrolls is a historical audiobook by The Great Courses in their Comparative & World Religion Series and is narrated by leader in Jewish Studies, Professor Gary A. Rendsburg. This was one of the most significant archaeological finds in human history. The Dead Sea Scrolls' discovery and translation has provided profound insight into the history of ancient Judaism, Christianity and the way of life for ancient civilisations. In these 24 lectures, listeners are given unprecedented knowledge of everything the discovery of these scrolls has come to mean to our understanding of ancient times. Available now from Audible.

Summary

Whether complete or only fragmentary, the 930 extant Dead Sea Scrolls irrevocably altered how we look at and understand the foundations of faith and religious practice. Now you can get a comprehensive introduction to this unique series of archaeological documents, and to scholars' evolving understanding of their authorship and significance, with these 24 lectures. Learn what the scrolls are, what they contain, and how the insights they offered into religious and ancient history came into focus.

In following the extraordinary story of how the scrolls were acquired and ultimately published - a story fully 40 years in its unfolding - you'll also explore an almost unlimited treasure trove of new facts and insights. Throughout the lectures, you'll learn about these and other topics: the only historical instance of the Jews ever forcibly converting a conquered people to Judaism; the rare stroke of scholarly fortune represented in the discovery of the first seven scrolls sealed in jars; and the extraordinary intrigue (sometimes spanning generations) that overlays the story of the scrolls.

At the heart of this series are the documents themselves. You'll spend a wealth of time reading parts of the actual scrolls in English translation, training your eye to uncover the salient religious practices and intriguing theological ideas expressed in these documents. By the conclusion of the final lecture, you'll have developed a newfound understanding and appreciation of an unprecedented historical find and its enduring influence on the way we think about - and talk about - ancient Judaism and Christianity.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©2010 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2010 The Great Courses

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Excellent: Much More Than The Dead Sea Scrolls

I had some misgivings about a whole lecture course on the Dead Sea Scrolls but my concerns were unfounded. A significant amount of the course involves very clear presentations of relevant parts of ancient history, a discussion of ancient Jewish sects etc -- which I found very helpful and very interesting even though I had encountered most of the material before in previous courses I have listened to. Professor Rendsburg is clearly deeply fascinated by and enthusiastic about the Dead Sea Scrolls and this comes through very clearly. The presentation is peppered with personal anecdotes which worked well for me in making this topic accessible. The course interweaves background, archeological information and historical background with detailed discussions of specific scrolls, and this back-and-forth kept my interest level very high. I found the course compelling and fascinating and recommend it highly. As for all of the Great Courses, I recommend looking at the Great Courses web site which contains more detail on course content including titles of each lecture -- and additional reviews.

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27 people found this helpful

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Superb course about game changing documents

"Before the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, scholars typically viewed Judaism through a single lens, namely the Rabbinic one since the rabbis would emerge as the dominant stream within Judaism after the destruction of the temple in 70 CE at the hands of the Romans... The Dead Sea Scrolls changed all of that... Finally we have the voice of a specific Jewish sect from the first century BCE – that is a half century before the life of Jesus – from a century before the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple. And with these texts we finally realise how little we knew about the period… The Dead Sea Scrolls have provided information in every area including theological beliefs, the calendar, religious practises, daily life and much more." These soundbytes from the end of lecture one give an idea of how important this subject is.

Professor Gary Rendsburg is a brilliant teacher. Accessible but erudite, he presents the material in a great way, telling lots of fascinating stories and anecdotes about the main players (including goats) and even quoting a little Hebrew so we can hear what the game-changing scrolls sounded like when read in the original language.

I loved this course and have listened to it twice. It's one of the best things Audible has to offer.

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6 people found this helpful

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What an amazing story told by a global authority

I chose this book to learn about the foundation stones of many of the worlds religions. I achieved that plus learned to much about the history of the region and thinking of the people. Utterly captivating.

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3 people found this helpful

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Very interesting and informative course

As a lay person I found this course interesting, well presented and well explained. I followed the lectures comfortably, even though I had no prior knowledge of the story of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

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Dead Sea Scrolls

Fascinating- thank you
Complicated matter explained by someone much involved but seemingly unbiased. Nicely narrated too.

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a star off because of narrator-dont be discouraged

Seems if the subject is religious the authors get quite animated at times. fascinating. interesting. loved it

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Excellent interpretation for any level of interest

I have been waiting for a less academic interpretation of the scrolls, and this fits perfectly in between . The lay person with an interest in what is undoubtedly one of not the most important historical finds of all time, and anyone with an academic interest. A wonderful journey back 2 millennia.

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Fascinating!

I learned so much and found myself listening to certain chapters again and again to ensure that I’d caught all the interesting information! Brilliant stuff!

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very informative and interesting

I would recommend this book to anyone with an interest in either history or in religion. the topics covered set the Dead Sea Scrolls in the context nicely. I feel it doesn't matter if you are a complete novice to the atopic or have some good understanding you can learn a lot from these lectures

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Excellent

Very interesting and informative. Very accessible to the layperson. Well read and easy to listen to.

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