The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls was one of the most important archaeological finds of the 20th century, and of incalculable significance for Biblical studies and apologetics. Newly-announced Biblical fragments retrieved from the Dead Sea region remind us that the story is not over yet.
In 1947 three Bedouin boys were herding their sheep and goats near the Dead Sea when they discovered the first of what became known as the Qumran caves. In the cave were ten jars, mostly empty, but one of which contained three leather scrolls. A later trip retrieved even more scrolls from the cave. What they had discovered were only the first of many ancient Jewish manuscripts that had been hidden in the caves during Roman times.
25,000 fragments
Between 1947 and 1956, as archaeologists became involved, about 25,000 fragments were retrieved from 11 different caves in the area. They probably represent a library of 900 complete scrolls. Many of them record the religious teachings of a Jewish sect who lived in the desert, but almost every book of the Hebrew Bible is found among them.
Comedy, free speech and warnings from the past
Hannah Arendt was a Jewish philosopher who grew up in Nazi Germany. Eventually she had to flee to France and, …