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Course Descriptions

Semester Course Schedule Long-Term Program Dates Short-Term Program Dates Entrance Requirements Course Descriptions

HIST 6/459 Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls - Credit Hours: 3

Semester normally offered: Fall

Course Description

A study of the texts and major critical issues concerning the Qumran community and the Dead Sea Scrolls, including their origin, interpretation of the Old Testament and place within the Jewish world and early Christianity.

Course Equivalencies

This course fills equivalencies in the following areas:  

  • History
  • Bible
  • Early Christianity
  • Second Temple and Rabbinic Judaism

Course Objectives

By the end of the course, the student should be able to:

  • identify and describe the genres and major individual texts of the Dead Sea Scrolls;
  • place the Dead Sea Scrolls and their community within the larger world of Second Temple Judaism;
  • explain the relationship(s) between the Dead Sea Scrolls, the community(ies) that produced them, and the site of Qumran;
  • explain the rise Messianism in the centuries prior to the rise of the New Testament; and
  • understand more fully the world of Jesus and the writers of the New Testament.

Field Study

A half-day interactive study trip to the Israel Museum or other relevant site.