The Dead Sea Scrolls and Christian Origins (review)

The Dead Sea Scrolls and Christian Origins. By Joseph A. Fitzmyer, S.J. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2000. xvii, 290 pp. $25.00 (paper). ISBN 0-8028-4650-5.

This collection of seminal essays by a premier biblical scholar goes far toward fulfilling the editors' purpose for the series Studies in the Dead Sea Scrolls and Related Literature: "to make the latest and best Dead Sea Scrolls scholarship available to scholars, students, and the thinking public" (i). The volume contains twelve studies, most of them revised and/or updated since their original publications in the 1980s and 1990s. One is an entirely new, comprehensive, clarifying, and persuasive essay on "Qumran Messianism," which constitutes chapter 5 (73-110).

Fitzmyer re-presents all the potentially "messianic" texts in their original languages. He then presents his own translation, followed by a careful discussion that interprets each text and argues for or against its designation as "messianic." Because he regards both "messianic" and "messianism" as having "rubberband extension" in recent Dead Sea Scrolls discussions, he insists upon and clarifies his distinctions among "eschatological," "apocalyptic," and genuine "messianic," usually with a small m. He insists upon respecting the history of these ideas by observing the "independent emergence" of the Old Testament-derived concepts. He resists the manners in which they have been confused and conflated while dealing with them as "they appear in history" (76).

With those concerns clearly in mind, he organizes his discussion in this order: Old Testament data, then Qumran and related data, followed by the implications for New Testament usage. He offers his interpretations in discussion with other Qumran interpreters. He resists offering a summary definition because the data are variegated and not always susceptible to definite chronological ordering.

This assemblage of essays could very well be the organizing book for a graduate seminar in Qumran and related literature. Students could follow Fitzmyer through his expert handling of central issues by rereading the carefully documented articles and books written by the 511 modern authors he cites and often discusses, all listed in one appendix. They will also be able to read in the original or in translation the ancient writings, all the way from Genesis to Revelation, through the Dead Sea Scrolls, old Aramaic texts, intertestamental literature, classical writings, writings of the patristic period, classical Targums, and rabbinical writings. He identifies these in another comprehensive appendix (267-78).

One term or semester might not provide enough time for thorough study and discussion. But the project could begin with chapters 3, 4, and 5, which deal with messianism, "Son of God," the Qumran text from Cave 4, and the background for "Son of God" as a title for Jesus, followed by chapter 2, "The Dead Sea Scrolls and Early Christianity," as an integrative essay. The seminar could continue with the two chapters on the book of Tobit (131-236) and the Aramaic Levi document (237-48), followed by chapters 11 and 12, which deal with the identity of the Qumran community: Essene or Sadducean and the "gathering in" of the Teacher of Righteousness (249-66). To integrate the whole enterprise, stimulated and guided by this extraordinary set of provocative essays, students could be asked to rebut or rewrite chapter 1, "The Dead Sea Scrolls and Christian Origins: General Methodological Considerations" (1-16).

An alternative way to benefit from the careful reading and study of this book would be to employ it in an interdisciplinary faculty discussion group or even to invite the author to spend a term leading such discussions.

However this rigorous volume is used, reading it singly or together, studying it will lead to deep involvement in fulfilling its central issue: giving the Dead Sea Scrolls disciplined and thorough treatment as unique written resources for understanding a period that can (and must) be studied now as never before. These essays provide a rewarding way to gain access to these newly available resources, for which the author and editors...