Robert Eisenman, the archaeology director of the Institute for the Study of Judeo-Christian Origins

Subject:	Robert Eisenman, the archaeology director of the Institute for the Study of Judeo-Christian Origins
Date:	Fri, 22 Jan 2010 17:04:44 -0800 (PST)

http://www.centralfloridafuture.com/archaeology-director-gives-historical-perspective-to-dead-sea-scroll-discovery-1.2141738

Extract -
A historical perspective on religion was discussed Tuesday with the
visit of Robert Eisenman, the archaeology director of the Institute
for the Study of Judeo-Christian Origins at California State
University, Long Beach, and professor of Middle East religions.

Eisenman spoke to the packed classroom about the release of the Dead
Sea Scrolls in the early nineties, of which he played a key role.

The topic was "The True Story of Freeing the Dead Sea Scrolls: An
Insider's Account" and was co-sponsored by the Judaic studies program,
the Center for Humanities and Digital Research and Central Florida
Hillel.

Eisenman told the history of the scrolls: originally discovered in
1947 in a cave by a "shepherd/treasure hunter" and put into secrecy in
the late 50s after the last scroll was found in 1956

"They were being held, basically...under lock and key for 40 years,"
said Eisenman. "Only selected persons were being allowed in to see
those documents."

Eisenman, unfortunately, wasn't in that select group of early scroll
viewers; he had to fight his way through the field to finally obtain
the scrolls.

In 1986, a colleague of his told him that they would never see the
scrolls in his lifetime, to which he replied, "The hell you say! We
will see the scrolls," said Eisenman.

Not soon after that, he and his associates acquired access to the
scrolls and had all of them photographed and published in their A
Facsimile Edition of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Through handwriting analysis, or paleography, the team estimated 800
manuscripts contained in the scrolls. Eisenman found some issues with
their use of paleography, such as dating.

"Paleography was the thing that they tried to nail everything on--the
only thing is they didn't have any real texts, they need manuscripts,"
he said. "They have something from 200 BC and something from 100 AD,
and they thought that they were dealing with a straight-line curve of
handwriting development."

He believes that many of the scrolls were written at the same time due
to his comparison with previous written works, but the team believes
that many of the scripts are chronological and not overlapping due to
paleography--the difference between internal and external data.

"The scrolls to me are the literature of the Messianic movement--they
are totally Messianic," he said. "I think this is the literature of
the first war against Rome...This is the literature of an opposition
movement--it opposes the reigning priesthood."

It is still up for debate whether or not the scrolls reinforce the
Bible due to all this conflict in studies, as well as the fact that
the scrolls talk in code, and Eisenman mentioned that even if they did
carbon dating that it would still be just as confusing.

"The interpretation of the scrolls makes me livid because they are so
important," Eisenman said. "We've been given a gift of the upmost
incredible, irreplaceable documents with precious insight into the
past and [my colleagues] render them into...uninteresting documents."

Senior anthropology major and Judaic studies minor Jeffrey Harris came
to the presentation with an open mind, but came out with many
questions.

"I came in here with no questions and just an idea, and I came out of
it with more questions than what I had," he said, "one answer leads to
another question."

Harris, like many scholars of the scrolls, is interested in the
relation of the scrolls to early Christianity.

"I wanted to know if the Dead Sea Scrolls were originally part of the
Bible," he said.

"That's the number one question that I have: does it mirror what we
read? Of course it's all up for interpretation."

David Christainsen
Newton, Mass. USA