Many of us have heard the story of the Dead Sea scrolls, how they were found in jars in caves near ruins by the Dead Sea and have been in the hands of scholars for about thirty years. Many of us have even read about the acedemic controversy which surrounded the reseach and kept the scrolls hidden. Maybe we thought that this was all past as photographs of the scrolls are now in the public domain. But, the story continues, and this book tells the story from the beginning to the present. It also compares various theories about the scrolls, and the research which supports them.

The author does have his own theory about the origins of the scrolls. Simply put without the supporting discussion and documentation, he feels that the scrolls were originally from libraries, or collections which were hidden in the desert just prior to the fall of Jerusalem in first century AD. This theory means that the scrolls are the legacy of the people who lived in all of the Judean area in that period rather than the writings of a sect, isolated from mainstream thought. Golb explains this theory and its implications with supporting evidence and tight reasoning. This alone makes for fascinating reading.

However, the second and even more important theme of this book is an arguement for academic freedom of access and inquiry. Golb's opinion is that it is often the interaction of scholars, theories and research which allows the truth, or an ever closer approximation of it to become common ground. Without this open forum of debate, unfounded assumptions become the basis for theories which like overgrown weeds are hard to uproot once they are established. In this case, the accepted paradigm governing all research surrounding and explaining the Dead Sea scrolls is one that originated very early in their investigation. This is the commonly known view that the documents were written by members of a reclusive sect, the Essenes, and referred to their views of correct practice and world vision, prophetic and otherwise. It was an acceptable hypothesis given the information of that time. However this working theory was never subjected to the rigors of different lines of inquiry. Even as contradictory evidence accumulated, this view was the only one allowed. Those who had control over the scrolls refused access to them by equally qualified researchers of different views. Those who wrote suggesting other formats for understanding the origin or meaning of the scrolls were refuted, dismissed and then shunned and blocked from pursuing rebuttal. Even now when the publication of photographs of the scrolls seems to allow free flow of inquiry and research, these activities are being restricted through legal channels.

Why is this all of relevance to those of us whose spiritual journey has challenged us to go beyond the confines of the given? First because it is a case where one can literally see the result of limited access to source materials and the unchallengable way an `authorized' version becomes reality. One can become aware that this does not happen only in isolated academic circles but in any place where power and prestige build a form of righteousness. Next, when one trys to understand the teaching of Jesus that emerged over centuries into what we know as Christianity it becomes helpful to understand the context of his teaching. This must include the historical time and contemporary thought in which he lived. If the scrolls discovered in the caves near Qumran were the product of an isolated sect, they may be interesting but one would have to place Jesus as a member, student, or leader, as some have done, in order for them to become a valued source for study. If however, they represent broad currents from which Jewish and Christian thought emerged after the fall of Jerusalem, one finds within them a resource to look into the intellectual and visionary ground of a chaotic time from which a teacher of great insight drew his understanding of spiritual truth and tried to teach individuals from this same thought system. If this is the case, some positions of established religious institutions, as enthroned and authorized as the standard interpretation of the scrolls, may need to be subjected to that openness of inquiry and process from which we may derive a better view of the world.

For these reasons I recommend this book as good reading. A bit hard on the mind with its rigor of investigation and documentation, it does not read like a novel. When one realizes the legal waters in which the author is treading, one forgives the ache of stretching one's mind and begins to enjoy the fight for freedom.

                                                                     A.S.