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Wednesday, October 29, 2025

Dr. Stephen J. Pfann (1952-2025)

SAD NEWS: I am hearing from various Facebook sources that Dr. Stephen J. Pfann passed away a couple of weeks ago. The University of the Holy Land (which he and his wife founded) has a post with details here.

Dr. Pfann is known particulary for his work on the Dead Sea Scrolls and Qumran. His his Academia.edu page is here. There is a brief 4 Enoch entry for him here. The Wikipedia entry for the University of the Holy Land is here.

Stephen showed up from time to time in PaleoJudaica. I reported on a conversation I had with him about the Mount Zion Cup and its inscription here. For a recent follow-up of that, see here. For his early report about the rather doubtful "Ben Padiah Scroll," see, most recently, here. For other posts on his involvement with, e.g., the Afghan Liturgical Quire, the Talpiot tombs, the Ezekiel Plates, the Logos Dead Sea Scorlls Database, etc., see the archives.

Requiescat in pace.

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