Fifty years after the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls there have been many advances in the field of Qumran Studies. Yet much work remains undone. In particular the study of the scrolls has continued to follow long established historical critical methods while largely falling to incorporate recent advances in literary, ideological and sociological approaches. The essays collected here are the result of the Bristol Colloquium on the Dead Sea Scrolls held in September 2003. Here, ten scholars working in a diversity of areas demonstrate how these recent advances in scholarship increase our knowledge of the scrolls, their historical context, and their impact on modern critical scholarship. The contributors consider a wide range of approaches, ranging across discussions in sociology, anthropology, literary studies, post-colonialism and ideological criticism. These essays will help to take Qumran Studies forward in new and creative ways. This is volume 52 in the Library of Second Temple Studies series (formerly the Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha Supplement series).

The series Beihefte zur Zeitschrift fur die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft (BZAW) covers all areas of research into the Old Testament, focusing on the Hebrew Bible, its early and later forms in Ancient Judaism, as well as its branching into many neighboring cultures of the Ancient Near East and the Greco-Roman world.

This book springs from the Bristol-Sheffield Hallam Colloquium on Contemporary Antisemitism at the University of Bristol in September 2015. International experts in Religious Studies, Law, Politics, Sociology, Psychology, and History came together to examine the complexities of contemporary antisemitism. Recent attacks on Jews in European cities have increased awareness of antisemitism and, as this collection shows, such attacks cannot be separated from wider geo-political and ideological factors. One distinct feature of antisemitism today is its demonization of the State of Israel. Older ideas also feature Jews being blamed for all the world's ills, thought to possess almost supernatural levels of power and wealth, and conspiring to harm the non-Jewish other. These and other ideas forming the background to antisemitism in Europe and North America are unpacked in this book with a view to understanding - and thereby combatting - contemporary antisemitism. A key concern is how unifying features might be isolated amid the diverse manifestations of this oldest of hatreds.

Jonathan G. Campbell provides an introduction to eight sectarian manuscripts from among the Qumran Dead Sea Scrolls that can loosely be called the 'Exegetical Texts'. He examines their contents, background, genre, and significance and he provides a history of the relevant research. The Exegetical Texts constitute a particularly diverse strand of sectarian compositions among the Qumran Dead Sea Scrolls. For this reason, the eight documents are treated in turn in more or less equal measure, with two introductory chapters to set the scene and a conclusion drawing the discussion to a close. Each chapter can be read either alone in its own right or together with the others to gain a broader picture. In order to encourage the reader to encounter the relevant Qumran documents firsthand extensive listings of editions in Hebrew and English are provided. The contributors to the Companion to the Qumran Scrolls series take account of a wide range of relevant and recently published texts and provide extensive bibliographies. The books in the series are authoritatively written in accessible language and are ideal for students and non-specialist scholars. Companion to the Qumran Scrolls, volume 4