When dealing with these difficult texts (which are, as Shanks notes, “fragmentary, elliptical, and written in arcane,...
A first-rate distillation of many scholars’ work over the past five decades on the century’s most important, and in many ways most controversial, archaeological find.
Shanks, editor of the Biblical Archaeology Review, as well as of the collection Understanding the Dead Sea Scrolls (1992), has played a key role in making public many of the 800 scroll fragments, written between 250 b.c. and 68 a.d., found in Qumran, in Israel’s Judean desert. He illustrates how important the scrolls are in understanding Judaism in the late Second Temple period, the era when Jesus and Christianity emerged. He also describes how the scrolls have been used to clarify textual confusions in other ancient editions of the Hebrew Bible (they include one complete book, Isaiah, and excerpts from every other except Esther). Concerning the community that actually lived in Qumran, Shanks carefully marshalls the evidence both for and against the hypothesis that they were Essenes, a close-knit, communitarian, ascetic, and fatalistic Jewish sect that kept a separate calendar from their brethren elsewhere, before making clear his own belief that Qumran was likely an Essene community. He deftly sifts through the evidence, and clearly describes many areas of continuing controversy in the study of the scrolls. Admirably, when there is insufficient evidence to settle a point, or conflicting evidence, he says so. On the question of whether or not the scrolls belonged to the Qumran community or originated in the Temple in Jerusalem, he notes that, ultimately, “we are left with mere speculation. Anyone can play the game. The uncertainties will remain—until, perhaps, new evidence surfaces”. Such scholarly judiciousness, combined with a succinct, accessible style, typifies Shanks’s thoughtful, balanced, yet at times also colorfully anecdotal approach.
When dealing with these difficult texts (which are, as Shanks notes, “fragmentary, elliptical, and written in arcane, symbolic, and metaphorical language”) one could hardly ask for a better guide.Pub Date: April 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-679-45757-7
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1998
BOOK REVIEW
This a book of earlier, philosophical essays concerned with the essential "absurdity" of life and the concept that- to overcome the strong tendency to suicide in every thoughtful man-one must accept life on its own terms with its values of revolt, liberty and passion. A dreary thesis- derived from and distorting the beliefs of the founders of existentialism, Jaspers, Heldegger and Kierkegaard, etc., the point of view seems peculiarly outmoded. It is based on the experience of war and the resistance, liberally laced with Andre Gide's excessive intellectualism. The younger existentialists such as Sartre and Camus, with their gift for the terse novel or intense drama, seem to have omitted from their philosophy all the deep religiosity which permeates the work of the great existentialist thinkers. This contributes to a basic lack of vitality in themselves, in these essays, and ten years after the war Camus seems unaware that the life force has healed old wounds... Largely for avant garde aesthetes and his special coterie.
Pub Date: Sept. 26, 1955
ISBN: 0679733736
Page Count: 228
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1955
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.
A compendium of charts, time lines, lists and illustrations to accompany study of the Bible.
This visually appealing resource provides a wide array of illustrative and textually concise references, beginning with three sets of charts covering the Bible as a whole, the Old Testament and the New Testament. These charts cover such topics as biblical weights and measures, feasts and holidays and the 12 disciples. Most of the charts use a variety of illustrative techniques to convey lessons and provide visual interest. A worthwhile example is “How We Got the Bible,” which provides a time line of translation history, comparisons of canons among faiths and portraits of important figures in biblical translation, such as Jerome and John Wycliffe. The book then presents a section of maps, followed by diagrams to conceptualize such structures as Noah’s Ark and Solomon’s Temple. Finally, a section on Christianity, cults and other religions describes key aspects of history and doctrine for certain Christian sects and other faith traditions. Overall, the authors take a traditionalist, conservative approach. For instance, they list Moses as the author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) without making mention of claims to the contrary. When comparing various Christian sects and world religions, the emphasis is on doctrine and orthodox theology. Some chapters, however, may not completely align with the needs of Catholic and Orthodox churches. But the authors’ leanings are muted enough and do not detract from the work’s usefulness. As a resource, it’s well organized, inviting and visually stimulating. Even the most seasoned reader will learn something while browsing.
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 978-1-5963-6022-8
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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