War Scroll, Violence, War and Peace in the Dead Sea Scrolls and Related Literature

Kipp Davis, Ph.D. (2009), Manchester, is a scholar of early Jewish manuscripts and texts at the University of Agder in Kristiansand, Norway. His most recent monograph is The Cave 4 Apocryphon of Jeremiah C and the Qumran Jeremianic Traditions (Brill, 2014).Kyung S. Baek , Ph.D. (cand.), Manchester, has research interests in early Jewish and Christian texts and interpretations, Christian Origins, and Second Temple Judaism. His most recent publication is Celebrating the Dead Sea Scrolls: A Canadian Collection (SBL, 2011).Peter W. Flint, Canada Research Chair in Dead Sea Scrolls Studies, Trinity Western University, is the editor of over twenty-five Dead Sea Scrolls, most recently, Eugene Ulrich and Peter W. Flint, Qumran Cave 1.II: The Isaiah Scrolls (Oxford, 2010).Dorothy M. Peters, Ph.D. is Adjunct Faculty at Trinity Western University and author of Noah Traditions in the Dead Sea Scrolls: Conversations and Controversies of Antiquity (SBLEJL, 2008).

• Dorothy M. Peters, IntroductionEmanuel Tov, From Concordance to Concordance: Martin G. Abegg’s Work on Computerizing and Concordancing the Dead Sea ScrollsJason Kalman, From “The War Scroll” to A Preliminary Edition of the Unpublished Dead Sea ScrollsTHE WAR SCROLLGeorge J. Brooke, Text, Timing and Terror: Thematic Thoughts on the War Scroll in Conversation with the Writings of Martin G. Abegg, jr.Robert D. Holmstedt and John Screnock, Writing a Descriptive Grammar of the Syntax and Semantics of the War Scroll: The Noun Phrase as Proof of ConceptAnthony R. Meyer, The “Mysteries of God” in the Qumran War ScrollKipp Davis, “There and Back Again”: Reconstruction and Reconciliation of the War Texts of 4QMilḥamaa (4Q246a–c)Dongshin Dohnson Chang, Priestly Covenants in 1QM and 1QSbRobert Kugler, The War Rule Texts and a New Theory of the People of the Dead Sea Scrolls: A Brief Thought ExperimentWAR AND PEACE IN THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS Alex Jassen, Violent Imaginaries and Practical Violence in the War ScrollBrian Schultz, The Naval Battle in the Qumran War TextsJohn Kampen, Wisdom, Poverty, and Non-Violence in InstructionDorothy M. Peters and Esther Eshel, Cutting Off Shechem: Levi and His Sword in the Rylands Genizah Fragment of the Aramaic Levi DocumentJames E. Bowley, Prophecy, False Prophecy, and War in the Dead Sea ScrollsDaniel K. Falk, Prayer, Liturgy and War Ian Werrett in collaboration with Stephen Parker, Purity in War: What is it Good for? WAR AND PEACE IN EARLY JEWISH AND CHRISTIAN TEXT AND INTERPRETATIONTorleif Elgvin, Violence, Apologetics, and Resistance: Hasmonaean Ideology and Yaḥad Texts in DialogueCraig A. Evans, Jesus, Satan and Holy War in Light of the Dead Sea ScrollsKyung S. Baek, The Sword-in-the-Mouth of Jesus the King: Declarations of War and Peace in the Gospel of MatthewMichael O. Wise, Papyrus Ḥever 30 and the Bar Kokhba RevoltSteve Delamarter, The Cave 11 Psalm Scroll (11Q5) and the Textual History of Ethiopic Psalm 151: Memory and Interpretation of David as Anointed Warrior

What is particularly impressive about this volume is the depth of analysis and treatment it achieves. First, the collection of essays dealing specifically with the War Scroll comprise a truly unique treatment on the topic, as there are very few volumes in recent years which deal specifically with the War Scroll. Each essay represents a substantive and nuanced presentation on a manuscript which, in my opinion, is ripe for fresh engagement. Second, the volume brings together in one location a wide-ranging collection of essays on violence, war, and peace in the ideological landscape of the late Second Temple period. It is here that this volume is an indispensable work for those interested in how and why these issues take textual and ideological shape within the late Second Temple period, both within Qumran and without.Mike DeVries, Ancient Jew Review, March 2017