The scrolls have been the subject of unending fascination and controversy ever since their discovery in the Qumran caves beginning in 1947. Intensifying the debate, Professor Norman Golb now fundamentally challenges those who argue that the writings belonged to a small, desert-dwelling fringe sect. Instead, he shows why the scrolls must have been the work of many groups in ancient Judaism, kept in libraries in Jerusalem and smuggled out of the capital...

This book sheds light on the almost-forgotten Jewish sect of the Essenes, a radical religious group with striking parallels to the first Christians. The library of these devout worshipers is known to moderns as the Dead Sea Scrolls, the only surviving Jewish documents written before or during the lifetime of Jesus. Bergsma reveals how the Judaism of this sect influenced the beliefs, sacraments, and practices of early Christianity, eventually transforming...