Hidden Scrolls

by Neil Asher Silberman and Neil A. Silberman

Book Overview

Tells the story of the people responsible for the composition of the Dead Sea scrolls, discusses their historical significance, and explains why the Scrolls have been hidden from public view for fifty years.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0399139826
• ISBN13: 9780399139826
• Release Date: October 1994
• Publisher: Putnam Publishing Group
• Length: 306 Pages
• Weight: 1.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.4" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Men of Lies

"The Hidden Scrolls" is a lucid outsider's look into the chaos that is Dead Sea Scrolls scholarship. Silberman's writing is constructed well with a flowing story of rich style. He shows us the consensuses that have been officially reached by the top, more "professional", scholars in the field. At this same time he reveals their own skullduggery. No, he doesn't mean the once embraced idea of conspired cover-up, but mainly their own theological evasiveness. This is due in part to the nature of scroll interpretation, which ends up being a subjective process. The humanist, Orthodox Jew, and fundamentalist Christian are all going to get a different message from a text surrounding a messianic figure. The people of the scrolls have so much in common with Christianity that the nexus can by no means be overlooked. Atleast one would think, but by looking at the differences betwixt the two, scholars manage to brush it aside. They identify Qumran as an isolated band of mystical monks, who though anticipated the End of Days and Final Judgement, occupied their massive library with events that occured centuries in their own past under Hasmonean rule. This is orthodoxy. By reducing them to this, "The 'Dead Sea Scrolls' became a harmless public fascination. But their revolutionary passion and outrage against injustice had been, consciously or unknowingly, stripped from them." Not only does he expose this inconsistency in the de Vaux orthodoxy, but even demythologizes the stories of their discovery and such. But in the inner circle of scholars, they only show disdain for alternative theories on the scrolls, and had given birth to sometimes angry, theological debates. This book is more appreciable to those who are already familiar with the saints and sinners of the Dead Sea Scrolls. It discusses their interactions and contributions, as well as their respective theories. While as Silberman thinks in light of evidence and not his scholarly contemporaries, it seems he at the same time avoids straying to the absurd. There is no "Jesus the mushroom buried in Qumran cave 7 occupied by Paul the Dinosaur's UFO" theory (OK I get a little carried away mocking the lunatic fringe, but o well..) He generally sees the voice of Jewish messianism in the scrolls, a movement that included Jesus Christ, and not the accepted tradition. This is an easy enjoyable book for those in the field of Scrolls research. Thumbs UP!!!

A fascinating book

I have read several books on the Dead Sea Scrolls and I found this the best. The author is not afraid to bring up several important but controversial issues. There is a lot of food for thought there as well as lot of colorfull history about the people that did the research on the scrolls.

Better than fiction

A thrilling and absorbing book. Neil Silberman walks the reader through the extraordinary, political, religious and intriguing tale to free the Dead Sea Scrolls from a small group of arrogant and eccentric scholars. In the telling the reader learns much of the content of the scrolls, which makes one question what is routinely passed on as the history of both Christianity and Rabbinic Judasim. Thoughly recommended reading.

An even-handed presentation

I first read "The Dead Sea Scrolls Deception." I found that book to be rather sensationalistic and somewhat one-sided in its presentation.The author of "The Hidden Scrolls," on the other hand, seems to have paid a lot more attention to research and to getting both sides of the story. His presentation, while quite readable, is far less exciting, but I think it is also far more credible, overall. "The Hidden Scrolls," being published several years after "The Dead Sea Scrolls Deception" and also several years after the public release of the full scroll contents, has more material about the scrolls to draw from, which gives it a further advantage.I wouldn't completely dismiss "The Dead Sea Scrolls Deception," but if you do read that one I'd read it first and then read "The Hidden Scrolls" to get a more reasoned view.