Directed toward a synthesis of the history of the religion of Israel, the essays in this volume address key aspects of Israelite religious development. Frank Moore Cross traces the continuities between early Israelite religion and the Caananite culture from which it emerged, explores the tension between the mythic and the historical in Israel's religious expression, and examines the reemergence of Caananite mythic material in the apocalypticism of early Christianity and the Dead Sea Scrolls.

In "From Epic to Canon," Frank Moore Cross discusses specific issues that illuminate central questions about the Hebrew Bible and those who created and preserved it. He challenges the persistent attempt to read Protestant theological polemic against law into ancient Israel. Cross uncovers the continuities between the institutions of kinship and of covenant, which he describes as "extended kinship." He examines the social structures of ancient Israel and reveals that beneath its later social and cultural accretions, the concept of covenant--as opposed to codified law--was a vital part of Israel's earliest institutions. He then draws parallels between the expression of kinship and covenant among the Israelites and that practiced by other ancient societies, as well as in primitive societies.

Ancient Yahwistic Poetry is a particularly tempting field of study. In this small body of literature are preserved the oldest and most creative expressions of Israel's faith. this study of ancient Yahwistic poetry by Frank Moore Cross Jr. and David Noel Freedman untangles some of the serious textual difficulties and linguistic obscurities that have been a challenge to students of the Hebrew Bible for many generations.

This volume inaugurates the publication of the series of biblical Dead Sea Scrolls written in the Jewish (or square') script that were discovered in Cave 4 at Qumran. It contains twenty-six manuscripts of the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers. These Hebrew texts antedate by a millenium what had previously been considered the earliest surviving biblical manuscripts in the original language. They document a pluriformity acceptable in the ancient biblical textual tradition that formed the basis for the Samaritan Pentateuch and helps to illumine the historical and theological relationship between the Jews and the Samaritans. Superior textual variants from these manuscripts have been adopted in recent revised translations of the Bible. This book is intended for biblical scholars, scholars of ancient Judaism and Christianity.

This definitive scholarly edition continues the publication of the biblical Dead Sea Scrolls from Qumran Cave 4. It contains thirty-three manuscripts of the books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Minor Prophets, antedating previous Hebrew texts by a millennium. The scrolls are valuable witnesses to the pluriform nature of the ancient biblical text and have been used for recent revised translations of the Bible.

The discovery of manuscripts in Qumran-the Dead Sea Scrolls-and other sites in the Wilderness of Judah has stimulated a period of unparalleled activity in the study of the biblical text. Students and teachers in this field are overwhelmed with the thousands of articles that have appeared in hundreds of journals in the last thirty years. The older handbooks surveying biblical textual criticism have become hopelessly obsolete. Frank Cross and Shemaryahu Talmon have designed a collection of essays to help the serious student find his way in this transformed field of research. Some of the essays are general surveys, some propound new theories, several publish manuscript data of revolutionary importance. The editors have contributed previously unpublished papers suggesting new approaches to the fundamental task of textual criticism. A list of published manuscripts or manuscript fragments from the Judaean Desert and a bibliography are included.

Three scrolls of the two books of Samuel were discovered in Cave 4 at Qumran and their full publication has been long awaited. Ever since the 1950s, they have been at the forefront of scholarly investigation of the textual criticism of the Hebrew Bible. It is no exaggeration to say that the critical study and exegesis of the books of Samuel are no longer possible without these three scrolls in conjunction with that of the Masoretic Text and the Septuagint.

This volume continues the publication of the series of biblical Dead Sea Scrolls that were discovered in Cave 4 at Qumran. It contains twenty-four Hebrew manuscripts of the books of Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, and Kings. These texts antedate by a millennium those that had previously held the title of the earliest surviving Hebrew biblical manuscripts. They document a pluriformity acceptable in the ancient biblical textual tradition before the text became standardized later in the Christian and Rabbinic period.