The Story of the Scrolls

Sep 22, 2024 5:35 AM

Author:Geza Vermes

From the world's leading Dead Sea Scrolls scholar, Geza Vermes' The Story of the Scrolls: The Miraculous Discovery and True Significance of the Dead Sea Scrolls is an ideal introduction to understanding these ancient documents.

The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in Qumran, between 1947 and 1956, was one of the greatest archaeological finds of all time. Written in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek, and hidden in caves by an ancient Jewish sect, these mysterious manuscripts revolutionized our understanding of the Bible, of Judaism and the early Christian world.

Geza Vermes's English translations brought these extraordinary documents to thousands, and his life has been inextricably interwoven with the scrolls for over sixty years.

In The Story of the Scrolls, Vermes relates the controversial story of their discovery and publication around the world, revealing cover-ups, blunders and academic in-fighting, but also the passion and dedication of many of those involved. He shares what he has learned about the scrolls and, evaluating passages from them, gives his views on their true significance and what they can teach us, as well as those areas where scholarly consensus has not yet been reached.

'The world's leading Gospel scholar'

  The Times

'Vermes has the rare gift of wearing his immense scholarship lightly'

  David Goldberg, Independent

Geza Vermes is director of the Forum for Qumran Research at the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies. His books, published by Penguin, include The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English and The Changing Faces of Jesus as well as the 'Jesus' trilogy: Nativity, Passion and Resurrection.

Reviews

Vermes has the rare gift of wearing his immense scholarship lightly

—— David Goldberg , Independent

A bracing and moving book...a reminder of the ardour, hardship and energy invested in the pursuit of knowledge and that endlessly inquiring and industrious Victorian age

—— New York Times

This pacy tale involves not only an Indiana Jones-like quest, but camel rides across the Sinai desert, trips up the Nile, bickerings, misunderstandings and confusions... A cracking tale of two irresistible characters

—— Herald

[A] luminous new study... Sisters of Sinai is by turns a rattling adventure yarn - thick with roving Bedouin and ancient tombs - and a testament to the power of perseverance

—— Washington Post

Marvellous... A fine, fascinating account

—— Los Angeles Times

In Sisters of Sinai Janet Soskice has achieved the impossible - she has brought biblical scholarship to life. A gripping story of two spirited women determined to pursue the truth whatever the cost, with camels to boot. Wonderful

—— Sara Wheeler

An extraordinary and compelling book, combining vivid travel adventures, wonderful characters, and absorbing journeys of the mind and heart. Janet Soskice brilliantly and accessibly unfolds one of the most gripping sagas of Biblical detection, while telling the story of two magnificent women who trespassed intrepidly in worlds that sought to exclude them

—— John Cornwell

This rattling tale appears to come straight from an Indiana Jones adventure... Janet Soskice had done an excellent job in piecing together the lives of two remarkable, and largely forgotten women

—— Marc Horne , Scotland on Sunday

Soskice tells the story with scholarly conviction... [This] biography is one to be earmarked

—— www.thebookbag.co.uk

An ambitious and attractive book. Its tone is learned, thoughtful and usually intimate...a finely balanced and well-told experiment that will echo with many readers

—— Independent

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