what information do Dead Sea Scrolls include?

Answer 1

The Dead Sea scrolls comprise roughly 825-872 documents, including texts from the Hebrew Bible, discovered between 1947 and 1956 in eleven caves in and around the Wadi Qumran (near the ruins of the ancient settlement of Khirbet Qumran, on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea). The texts are of great religious and historical significance, as they are practically the only known surviving Biblical documents written before AD 100.

About 80% to 85% of the Dead Sea Scrolls are written in one of three dialects of Hebrew,[1] so-called Biblical Hebrew (also known as Classical Hebrew), "Dead Sea Scroll Hebrew" (on which see Hoffman 2004 or Qimron 1986), or proto-Tannaitic Hebrew, as in the Copper Scroll and the MMT text. Biblical Hebrew dominates in the Biblical scrolls, and DSS Hebrew in scrolls which some scholars believe were composed at Qumran. Also some scrolls are written in Aramaic and a few in Koine Greek.

For the view that the scrolls are the remnants of Jerusalem libraries and that there is no organic connection between the scrolls and Qumran, see below, section 2.3. Even according to those scholars who believe that there was scribal activity at Qumran, only a few of the biblical scrolls were actually composed there, the majority being copied before the Qumran period and coming into the ownership of the claimed Qumran community (Abegg et al 2002). There is, however, no concrete physical evidence of scribal activity at Qumran, nor, a fortiori, that the claimed Qumran community altered the biblical texts to reflect their own theology (Golb, 1995; cf. Abegg et al 2002). It is thought that the claimed Qumran community would have viewed the Book of Enoch and the Book of Jubilees as divinely inspired scripture (Abegg et al 2002). The biblical texts cited most often in the nonbiblical Dead Sea Scrolls are the Psalms, followed by the Book of Isaiah and the Book of Deuteronomy (Abegg et al 2002).

Important texts include the Isaiah Scroll (discovered in 1947), a Commentary on the Habakkuk (1947); the so-called Manual of Discipline (= Community Rule) (1QS/4QSa-j), which gives much information on the structure and theology of a sect; and the earliest version of the Damascus Document. The so-called Copper Scroll (1952), which lists valuable hidden caches of gold, scrolls, and weapons, is probably the most notorious.

The fragments span at least 801 texts that represent many diverse viewpoints, ranging from beliefs resembling those of the Essenes to those of other sects. About 30% are fragments from the Hebrew Bible, from all the books except the Book of Esther and the Book of Nehemiah (Abegg et al 2002). About 25% are traditional Israelite religious texts that are not in the canonical Hebrew Bible, such as the Book of Enoch, the Book of Jubilees, and the Testament of Levi. Another 30% contain Biblical commentaries or other texts such as the Community Rule (1QS/4QSa-j, also known as "Discipline Scroll" or "Manual of Discipline") and the War of the Sons of Light Against the Sons of Darkness (1QM, also known as the "War Scroll") related to the beliefs, regulations, and membership requirements of a Jewish sect, which some researchers continue to believe lived in the Qumran area. The rest (about 15%) of the fragments are yet unidentified

Answer 2

The Dead Sea scrolls comprise roughly 825-872 documents, including texts from the Hebrew Bible, discovered between 1947 and 1956 in eleven caves in and around the Wadi Qumran (near the ruins of the ancient settlement of Khirbet Qumran, on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea). The texts are of great religious and historical significance, as they are practically the only known surviving Biblical documents written before AD 100.

Essenes
According to a view almost universally held until the 1990s, the documents were written and hidden by a community of Essenes who were thought to have lived in the Qumran area. This is known as the Qumran-Essene Hypothesis. Jews revolted against the Romans in AD 66. Before they were massacred by Roman troops, the Essenes hid their scriptures in caves, not to be discovered until 1947. In view of rising opposition to this theory, it can no longer be stated with certitude that the opinion that the authors of the Dead Sea Scrolls were Essenes is the most prevalent view among scholars (Golb 1995; Hirschfeld 2004; Magen and Peleg 2006; cf. Abegg et al 2002). Since the 1990s a version of this theory, which can also no longer be said to be prevalent among scholars, stresses that the authors of the scrolls were "Essene-Like" or a splinter Essene group rather than simply Essenes as such. This modification of the Essene theory takes into account some significant differences between the world view expressed in some of the scrolls and the Essenes, as described by the classical authors. Together, the two theories may be called the "Qumran-sectarian theory".

Answer 3

The Dead Sea scrolls comprise roughly 825-872 documents, including texts from the Hebrew Bible, discovered between 1947 and 1956 in eleven caves in and around the Wadi Qumran (near the ruins of the ancient settlement of Khirbet Qumran, on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea). The texts are of great religious and historical significance, as they are practically the only known surviving Biblical documents written before AD 100.

For More Information go to: wikipedia.org

Answer 4

4. The Scrolls can be divided into two categories—biblical and non-biblical. Fragments of every book of the Hebrew canon (Old Testament) have been discovered except for the book of Esther. 5. There are now identified among the scrolls, 19 copies of the Book of Isaiah, 25 copies of Deuteronomy and 30 copies of the Psalms . 6. Prophecies by Ezekiel, Jeremiah and Daniel not found in the Bible are written in the Scrolls. 7. The Isaiah Scroll, found relatively intact, is 1000 years older than any previously known copy of Isaiah. In fact, the scrolls are the oldest group of Old Testament manuscripts ever found. 8. In the Scrolls are found never before seen psalms attributed to King David and Joshua.

Answer 5

That information is still being argued about. Much of the arguments relate to books containing the real role of Mary Magdalen and whether or not Jesus was truly a virgin birth. Of course the Da Vinci Code touches upon this in a roundabout way, another great book about it is Robert Ludlum's "The Gemini Contenders." Who by the way, was far ahead of Dan Brown on the conspiracies to conceal certain books found in the Dead Sea Scrolls. Good Question but a HUGE topic.

Also there is the Filioque Documents (Or Filioque Disputes) on which many different schools of thinking are prevalent within all of the different denominations of Christianity including of course, Catholicism.

Answer 6

The dead sea scrolls were copies of several books of the Bible dated more than a 1,000 years before the oldest known copies at that time. They showed that the Bible didn't "drift" over that millenia.

I would think a ton of reference materials would appear if you searched for "dead sea scrolls".