The Dead Sea Scrolls

The traditional camp sees the scrolls as the product of an Essene community which had separated itself from the Temple and its community. Most of the tradtional scroll scholars are NOT fundamentalist but are moderate in theology (Vanderkam, Fitzmyer and others). They would say that the scrolls neither support nor detract from Christianity. Everyone would acknowledge that the scrolls greatly enhance our understanding of how Jews viewed righteousness and faith around the time of Jesus.

Some others (Schiffman) see them as the product of a Sadducean community. Norman Golb believes that the community was a military stronghold.

Some liberal types on the "fringe" have related them to Christianity. Robert Eisenman sees John the Baptist as the "teacher pf Righteousness" and sees Jesus as the "wicked priest" (an individual who was evidently challenging the traditional view of the law). This view tend to be seen as "sensationalist" and is not widely respected.

 

Here is a on-line resource that may help answer some of your questions.

It is from a Jewish perspective.

THE ORION CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF THE DSS.

Rob

 

What exactly do the scrolls contain and how are they dated?

Two of the more interesting non-biblical texts found in the DSS:

</font>

• The Community Rule. Basically this functions the same as the "rule" of a monastic community, setting out the ethical and social guidelines that govern life in the community.</font>
• The War Scroll. I heard Martin Abegg give a lecture about this one here in Ottawa about a year ago when the Museum of Civilization had a DSS exhibit. It's a work of Jewish apocalyptic, describing a spiritual war between the Sons of Darkness and the Sons of Light, in which three battles go to the Sons of Light and three to Belial, then God steps in and destroys the sons of Belial utterly. This scroll is notable because a lot of its imagery carries over into the Biblical book of Revelation, suggesting that John was familiar with it.</font>

There's been a fair bit of nonsense written about the DSS, primarily because the head of the research team in charge of the contents of Qumran cave 4, a member of the Dominican Order, imposed a secrecy rule on the DSS that prevented anyone but team members from inspecting the original materials. Unfortunately they then spent all their time theorizing about the contents instead of actually researching them.

This led to weird conspiracy theories about coverups because of what the DSS actually revealed. Most notoriously, for example, Baigent and Leigh's Dead Sea Scrolls Deception claimed that the DSS were early Christian documents that proved the biblical account of Jesus' life was a myth invented by Paul, who was actually a Roman agent seeking to undermine Christianity. The "secret" material became public in the early 90s when some scholars just flatly chose to defy the secrecy rule. Of course, it turned out not to be all that sensationalistic, once again proving the axiom that you should never assume conspiracy when stupidity will suffice. The Dominican research team simply wasn't very competent.

 

Dating of the scrolls was done using carbon dating.

The Dead Sea Scrolls include:

Contribution of the Dead Sea Scrolls to Biblical Understanding

According to the above link, the following books were found in the DSS. Number of copies and fragments in parentheses. Esther is the only OT book of which there is no copy or fragment from.

Genesis (15)
Exodus (17)
Leviticus (13)
Numbers (8)
Deuteronomy (29)
Joshua (2)
Judges (3)
1-2 Samuel (4)
1-2 Kings (3)
Isaiah (21)
Jeremiah (6)
Ezekiel (6)
Twelve Prophets (8)
Psalms (36)
Proverbs (2)
Job (4)
Song of Soloman (4)
Ruth (4)
Lamentations (4)
Ecclesiastes (3)
Esther (0)
Daniel (8)
Ezra-Nehemiah (1)
1-2 Chronicles (1)

Commentaries were found for the following books
Isaiah
Habakkuk
Hosea
Micah
Nahum
Psalms

Deuterocanonicals (Protestant Apocrypha) that were found
Tobit
Sirach (Ecclesiasticus)
a Letter of Jeremiah (Baruch 6)

Pseudepigrapha (Catholic & Protestant Apocryphal books) that were found
Psalm 151
Enoch (1 Enoch)
Jubilees
Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs

Additionally found among the DSS were other apocryphal writings that were previously unknown to biblical scholars including statements of belief, regulations and membership requirements for the Jewish sect believed to be the Essenes that left us the DSS.