Universität Wien

060042 VO Introduction to Dead Sea Scrolls (2013W)

2.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 6 - Ägyptologie, Judaistik, Urgeschichte und Historische Archäologie
Moodle

Details

Language: English

Examination dates

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

  • Thursday 03.10. 11:45 - 13:15 Hörsaal 2 Judaistik UniCampus Hof 7 2L-EG-17
  • Thursday 10.10. 11:45 - 13:15 Hörsaal 2 Judaistik UniCampus Hof 7 2L-EG-17
  • Thursday 17.10. 11:45 - 13:15 Hörsaal 2 Judaistik UniCampus Hof 7 2L-EG-17
  • Thursday 24.10. 11:45 - 13:15 Hörsaal 2 Judaistik UniCampus Hof 7 2L-EG-17
  • Thursday 31.10. 11:45 - 13:15 Hörsaal 2 Judaistik UniCampus Hof 7 2L-EG-17
  • Thursday 07.11. 11:45 - 13:15 Hörsaal 2 Judaistik UniCampus Hof 7 2L-EG-17
  • Thursday 14.11. 11:45 - 13:15 Hörsaal 2 Judaistik UniCampus Hof 7 2L-EG-17
  • Thursday 28.11. 11:45 - 13:15 Hörsaal 2 Judaistik UniCampus Hof 7 2L-EG-17
  • Thursday 05.12. 11:45 - 13:15 Hörsaal 2 Judaistik UniCampus Hof 7 2L-EG-17
  • Thursday 12.12. 11:45 - 13:15 Besprechungsraum, 2. Stock Judaistik UniCampus Hof 7 2L-O2-15
  • Thursday 09.01. 11:45 - 13:15 Hörsaal 2 Judaistik UniCampus Hof 7 2L-EG-17
  • Thursday 16.01. 11:45 - 13:15 Hörsaal 2 Judaistik UniCampus Hof 7 2L-EG-17
  • Thursday 30.01. 11:45 - 13:15 Hörsaal 2 Judaistik UniCampus Hof 7 2L-EG-17

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

At different sites in the Judean Desert, fragments of ca.1500 manuscripts were found which provide information about the history of Second Temple Judaism from the 4th cent. BCE to the early 2nd cent. CE. Most important are the ca. 1000 manuscripts found in the caves in the vicinity of Khirbet Qumran. They date paleographically from the 3rd cent. BCE to the 1st cent. CE. The biblical manuscripts from Qumran attest to a plurality of text-forms of the different books of the Hebrew Bible and provide new insights to their redactional history. The non-biblical manuscripts from Qumran attest to a medley of Essene and non-Essene literature, which was mostly unknown before the finds of Qumran. These manuscripts provide new insights into the religious history of Second Temple Judaism and are of crucial importance to understand how both Christianity and post Second Temple Judaism developed. The Dead Sea Scrolls can be described as a crossroads leading to both Rabbinic Judaism and Christianity.

Assessment and permitted materials

Oral or written exam

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

This lecture class will explain the reasons which led to the Babylonian exile, which crises the Jews had to overcome in this time period, which concepts and ideas they developed in response to them, and how these concepts and ideas influence not only Judaism but the cultures of the western world in general as of to date.

Examination topics

The typical approach of a lecture class will be combined with elements of classroom discussion and small team works

Reading list

D.W. Parry/E. Tov, The Dead Sea Scrolls Reader, vol 1-6, Leiden and Boston, Mass.: Brill, 2004-2005
L.H. Schiffman, Reclaiming the Dead Sea Scrolls: the History of Judaism, the Background of Christianity, the Lost Library of Qumran, Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1994
J.C. VanderKam, The Dead Sea Scrolls Today, 2nd ed., Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2010.
J.C.VanderKam and P. Flint, The Meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls, San Francisco, Calif.: HarperSanFrancisco, 2002

Association in the course directory

BA: U1-411
MA: U2-411, U2-211

Last modified: Mo 07.09.2020 15:30