The Dead Sea Scrolls’ lasting significance is highlighted by an international slate of speakers
The Dead Sea Scrolls: Words that Changed the World exhibition at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), from June 27, 2009 to January 3, 2010, is highlighted by the Anne Tanenbaum Lecture Series, an exceptional slate of talks featuring some of the world’s most renowned scholars on the Bible and Dead Sea Scrolls. The fourteen lectures, taking place at the ROM throughout the exhibition’s engagement, explore many aspects of these ancient manuscripts enlightening a world of long ago and revealing universal principles still valued today.
Tickets to all lectures are now available (see release’s end for more details).
Confirmed speakers and topics in the series include:
(Visit https://www.rom.on.ca/scrolls/lectures.php for full speaker biographies)
Tuesday, June 23
The Impact of the Dead Sea Scrolls on the Bible
Dr. Eugene Ulrich, John A. O'Brien Professor of Hebrew Scriptures
University of Notre Dame, and Chief Editor of the Biblical Qumran Scrolls
The Scrolls include about 230 Hebrew and Greek biblical manuscripts that are 1,000 years older than previously known manuscripts. Illuminating a previously undocumented period in the history of the biblical books, Dr. Ulrich discusses how the Scrolls demonstrate an organic process of developmental composition for the biblical books and raise questions about revelation, inspiration, and the canon. Many of their superior variant readings have brought improvements (including the recovery of a whole paragraph) to recent translations of the Bible.
Thursday, July 2
The Archaeology of Khirbet Qumran: Recent Excavation Discoveries
Yuval Peleg, District Archaeologist for Eastern Samaria and the Jordan Valley
Israel Antiquities Authority, Jerusalem
In 1993, 40 years after R. de-Vaux excavated at Qumran, renewed excavations commenced revealing important new discoveries. The excavations were carried out in 1993, and from 1996 to 2004 under the supervision of Dr. Itzhak Magen and Yuval Peleg. Thousands of artifacts were unearthed, including numerous shards and complete pottery vessels, glass and stone vessels, coins that signified the various stages of the site, jewellery, ostraka and organic materials. Objects found were from the Iron Age and from the Second Temple period. Additionally, parts of the main water channel were unearthed as were pottery workshops and installations for processing dates and balsam. Peleg discusses the results of the new excavations and how they enable us to understand the archaeology and history of Qumran in a new and different way.
Thursday, July 16
The Stories of the Toronto Dead Sea Scrolls
Dr. Martin Abegg, Ben Zion Wacholder Professor of Dead Sea Scroll Studies, Religious Studies Department
Trinity Western University and Co-Director of the Dead Sea Scrolls Institute
Langley, British Columbia
Highlighting the Scrolls in the ROM’s exhibition, this lecture delivers a behind the scenes glimpse at the past intrigue surrounding these very Scrolls and concentrates on what the texts tell us about the ancients that wrote, collected, copied and studied them. What were the scriptures of these ancient Jews? How did they project themselves into the biblical story? How did they think that the world was to end? And how did they then live in response to their understanding of these issues?
Thursday, July 23
Jerusalem in the Dead Sea Scrolls
Dr. Dan Bahat, former district archeologist for Jerusalem, current Associate Professor
University of St. Michael’s College, University of Toronto
What do the Dead Sea Scrolls tell us about Jerusalem—the cultural, religious and political capital of the Judea in the Second Temple period? Do the Scrolls shed any light on life in this magnificent city, on its architecture or that of Herod’s Temple? Learn how the Dead Sea Scrolls provide a unique snapshot of Jerusalem just before its destruction by the Romans in 70 CE.
Wednesday, September 16
The Historical Problem of the Essenes
Dr. Steve Mason, Professor, Dept of History, and Canada Research Chair in Greco-Roman Cultural Interaction
York University, Toronto
Historical understanding of the Essenes, a group known since antiquity from Greek and Latin historians, took a decisive turn with the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947 and following. The theory that quickly displaced all others during the 1950s held that the site of Qumran and many of the Scrolls found nearby were Essene creations. This lecture reopens the question of the Essenes. Inviting the audience to enter the historian's study, the issue is thought through from the ground up. What is history anyway? How do we construct a historical investigation? How would we investigate the problem of the Essenes today, if we were doing it for the first time? If we follow the standard procedures of historical research, understanding the Greek and Latin evidence as we do in the 21st century, how might our investigation differ from that of the 1950s? Would it suggest different results? To help illuminate these issues, Dr. Mason compares other historical matters concerning 1st century Judaea.
Thursday, September 24
The Archaeology of Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls
Dr. Jodi Magness, Kenan Distinguished Professor for Teaching Excellence in Early Judaism, Department of Religious Studies
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
In 1946-47, the first of the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered when a Bedouin boy wandered into a cave near Qumran. Eventually over 900 scrolls were found in 11 caves around Qumran. This slide-illustrated lecture explores the archaeological ruins at Qumran, which was the settlement of the sectarian community that deposited the scrolls in the nearby caves. The peculiar features of the site and its connection with the Scrolls are discussed.
Thursday, October 15
Women in the Dead Sea Scrolls
Dr. Eileen Schuller, Professor, Department of Religious Studies
McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario
It has often been assumed that the community of the Dead Sea Scrolls was comprised of celibate males. However, many of the documents speak of women, marriage and family, and there were at least a few females buried in the cemetery at the site. This lecture explores some of the key texts about women and what they might tell us about the presence and role of women in this community and more broadly in Second Temple Judaism.
Thursday, October 29
Israel at the Time of the Dead Sea Scrolls
Dr. Lawrence Schiffman, Edelman Professor of Hebrew and Judaic Studies, and Chair of the Skirball Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies
New York University
The Second Temple period was a momentous era in ancient Israel, beginning with the conquest by Alexander the Great that expanded the rise of Hellenism and the great Jewish religious movements. Dr. Schiffman surveys these developments and their significance in providing background for the Dead Sea Scrolls, and explains how the Scrolls have enriched the understanding of the history of this period.
Thursday, November 5
Rabbis and Romans at Sepphoris: Ornament of All Galilee
Dr. Eric Meyers, Past President, American Schools of Oriental Research; Bernice and Morton Lerner Professor of Jewish Studies, and Director, Center for Jewish Studies
Duke University, Durham, North Carolina
When the 1st century historian Josephus called Sepphoris "Ornament of All Galilee" he had no idea that one day this site of recent excavations might be associated with a wide range of magnificent mosaics from the Roman and Byzantine periods. Capital of the Galilee in the time of Jesus and renovated by Herod Antipas, its magnificent urban ruins tell the story of how Galilee was developed before and after the Great Revolt against Rome (66-70 CE). It was also home to Rabbi Judah the Prince, Patriarch of the Jewish community ca. 200 CE and the city where the Mishnah, the oldest commentary on the Bible, was edited and propagated. Pagans were also living at the site by this time. By the Byzantine period (4th century CE), a major Christian presence can be documented. How these disparate groups interacted is the focus of this illustrated presentation.
Wednesday, November 11
The Conservation and Preservation of the Dead Sea Scrolls
Pnina Shor, Head of the Department for the Treatment and Conservation of Artifacts
Israel Antiquities Authority, Jerusalem
The conservation and preservation of the Dead Sea Scrolls has been a concern since their discovery. Removing them from the caves of the Judean Desert in which they were preserved for over 2,000 years traumatized the environmental stability that had protected them for so long. The Scrolls are made of either parchment or papyrus. Alongside the large parchment scrolls, thousands of smaller fragments were found and subsequently arranged and encased within glass plates. Of more than 1,200 plates, approximately 900 contain fragments of parchment and 300 contain fragments of papyrus. Until the establishment of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) Dead Sea Scrolls conservation laboratory in 1991, the Scrolls had been heavily damaged by the ravages of time, as well as previous handling and treatment. Conserving and preserving the Scrolls is an ongoing, slow and painstaking project requiring the most up-to-date methods known worldwide. While the process of ageing cannot be halted, the IAA is trying to slow it down with as little intervention as possible. As the Dead Sea Scrolls are a universal cultural heritage, it is the IAA’s responsibility to safeguard them for future generations.
Sunday, November 15
The Scribes of Qumran
Dr. Emanuel Tov, Editor-in-Chief, Dead Sea Scrolls Publication Project and J.L. Magnes Professor of Bible
Hebrew University, Jerusalem
Lecture at 5 pm and 6:30 pm
The Qumran scrolls were written some 2,000 years ago, around the time of Jesus, thereby delivering a status report on the Hebrew and Aramaic texts written in that period. Approximately one-third of these scrolls were written at Qumran, near the Dead Sea, while two-thirds were taken to Qumran from other places in ancient Israel. This presentation’s focus is the scribes of Qumran who copied the text of the Hebrew and Aramaic Bible and many non-biblical compositions on leather and papyrus. The lecture describes the activity of these scribes based on all the information known to us, providing a fully illustrated description of all facets of their scribal activity, ranging from the preparation of the leather to the actual writing in columns, and their level of precision. It also describes the learning process undergone by the novice scribes and the way they wrote, erred, and corrected their mistakes.
Thursday, December 3
Returning to Sinai: Revelation at Qumran
Dr. Hindy Najman, Director, Centre for Jewish Studies, and Associate Professor, Department and Centre for the Study of Religion
University of Toronto
Although prophecy, as a dominant aspect of revelation, is often said to have been removed from the Second Temple Jewish community late Second Temple Judaism, it is clear from texts available from this period that the communities did not understand themselves to be without ongoing revelation. This study is intended in part to shed light on the claim that revelation did not cease in the Second Temple period, but was understood to persist even outside of the space of Jerusalem and temple practice and especially at Qumran.
Thursday, December 10
The Bible in the Religious Islamic Imagination
Walid Saleh, Associate Professor of Religion at the University of Toronto
The Hebrew Bible played a pivotal role in the religious formation of Islam. The Qur'an has more to report about Moses than any other religious figure. In addition to the Qur'an, a new genre of literature was developed by Muslims that centered around the Patriarchal figures of the Bible. All through their religious history Muslims were keenly aware of the world of the Bible. Since Jewish communities in the Muslim world translated the Bible into Arabic, these translations were available to Muslim intellectuals. The history of the interaction of Muslims with the Bible is a fascinating story which still unfolds today.
Tuesday, December 15
Jewish and Christian Origins as Revealed by the Dead Sea Scrolls
Risa Levitt Kohn, Director, Jewish Studies Program, and Professor, Religious Studies Department
San Diego State University
The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls revolutionized our understanding of the period of Jewish beginnings and of Christian origins and the indebtedness these groups owe to earlier Israelite traditions found in the Bible. This lecture is a fascinating exploration of the treasure trove of information these texts provide about the rituals, practices and theology at the root of the Judeo-Christian world.
Information on the lecture series
All lectures take place in either the ROM’s Signy and Cléophée Eaton Theatre or the Samuel Hall Currelly Gallery at 6:00 pm and 8:00 pm, unless otherwise noted.
Tickets are now available:
Price per lecture: $28 (online $26), ROM members and students $25 (online $23)
Any four lectures: $84, ROM members and students $75
Groups of 10 or more receive a special rate of $23 per person per lecture.
To register for single lectures go to www.rom.on.ca/scrolls or call 416.586.5797.