Nothing “Dead” About the Dead Sea Scrolls

From 1947 to this day, Christians and Jews alike have grown in understanding and faith through insights raised by the greatest cache of ancient biblical manuscripts discovered in modern times.

On the evening of October 14 the Catholic Biblical School and the University of Hartford came together to explore what John the Baptist, Jesus and Paul all have in common with the faith of the Essenes, that exclusive pre-rabbinic sect of Judaism whose vast library is represented today by what we call the “Dead Sea Scrolls” (so called because the materials were found at Qumran, on the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea).

The Essene monastic community was destroyed in 68 AD, but its texts live on in thousands of ancient manuscripts and fragments. These texts continue to raise many fascinating questions not only about this obscure Jewish sect, but about its contemporary religious movements: Christianity and rabbinic Judaism (the ancestor of Judaism today).

Dr. Adolfo Roitman, Curator of the Dead Sea Scrolls at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, correlated New Testament texts relating to John the Baptist (MK 1:1-5); Jesus (MT 5:43-44 and MK 11:15-17); and St. Paul (2 COR 6:14-16) with sayings found in the Community Rule scrolls found at Qumran. He tells us the bottom line is this: Christians and Essenes were both, in their origins, pre-rabbinical Jews.

Twenty-five CBS students, alums, and other Catholic leaders joined in study with UHart’s Greenberg Center for Judaic Studies for this unique educational opportunity.