James C. VanderKam, The Dead Sea Scrolls Today, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2010). Paperback / Kindle One of the greatest—if not the greatest—archaeological discoveries of the twentieth century was the finding of the Dead Sea Scrolls. These scrolls opened new windows onto the world of Second Temple Judaism, especially the theology and practices of the Essene community. Unfortunately, they also spawned an entire industry of conspiracy thinking and pseudo-scholarship that distorts popular understanding of the scrolls even to the present day. The great merit of James C. VanderKam’s The Dead Sea Scrolls Today is that it lays out … Continue reading Review of ‘The Dead Sea Scrolls Today’ by James C. VanderKam