Wednesday, October 21, 2020

Lecture on Collection in the DSS (22 October)

ZOOM LECTURE TOMORROW: Interpreting Collection in the Dead Sea Scrolls (by Institute of Jewish Studies).
Lecture about how the Dead Sea Scrolls were produced, who wrote and copied them and how they did it - materially and intellectually

Date And Time

Thu, 22 October 2020
18:00 – 19:00 BST

About this Event

Lecture by Hindy Najman (University of Oxford) and Eibert Tigchelaar (KU Leuven), chaired by Mark Geller (UCL).

One striking feature is that many of the Dead Sea scrolls consist of collections: of psalms or hymns, prayers, rules, laws, or exegetical interpretations. And frequently texts of different character are connected, for example penal rules with hymns. Often these collections are attested in variant forms: they are similar, but different. By analysing such collections, we try to understand the material and literary production of scrolls. Did these Jewish scribes collect texts in one scroll for practical reasons? Does collection reflect a creative growth of traditions? Or were scribes driven by an anthological temper? Should unique combinations of collected texts be regarded as intentional literary productions? We want to give an overview, and discuss some of the rules of these scrolls, such as the limits or unlimitedness of collection. This is important for the names we give to such scrolls and how we interpret them, but also for our understanding of contemporary writings.

You can register at this eventbrite link. HT the Orion Center for the Study of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

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