The Dead Sea Scrolls Deception

The Dead Sea Scrolls were found in caves 20 miles east of Jerusalem in 1947 and 1956. Now Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh, co-authors of The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, have succeeded in uncovering what has been described as 'the academic scandal par excellence of the twentieth century'- the story of how and why up to 75 per cent of the eight hundred ancient Hebrew and Aramaic manuscripts, hidden for some nineteen centuries, have, until very recently, remained concealed from the rest of the world. Through interviews, historical analysis and a close study of both published and unpublished scroll material, the authors are able to reveal the true cause of the bitter struggle between scholars, for these documents disclose nothing less than a new account of the origins of Christianity and an alternative and highly significant version of the New Testament.… (more)

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Dobra-Knjiga.com

Autori predstavljaju otkriće do koga su došli pedantnim istraživanjima, a pokazuje da ako se rasvetli odnos između Svitaka mrtvog mora, Novog Zaveta i socijalnih, istorijskih i religioznih sila na tadašnjoj istorijskog pozornici, ostaje jasno da su Spisi mrtvog mora istorijska obmana.

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LibraryThing member hjvanderklis

Many have heard of the Dead Sea Scrolls, only a few have read them in a modern translation, and even less people were able to study the originals. I have an English translation called The Dead Sea Scriptures by Theodor H. Gaster dating back from 1976. In their 1991 title The Dead Sea Scrolls

Deception, Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh offer you their encounters with the deceptive process and productivity of archeology, theology and paleography researchers involved in the exploration of the Scrolls since they were found in caves near Jericho on the hills western of the Dead Sea. Somehow this book was promoted to me in 2012, though it’s not a new version, except for the appearance as e-book, unimaginable in a 2,000 old jar with leather, parchment or copper scrolls. Baigent and Leigh set out to discover how a small circle of orthodox (Catholic) biblical scholars gained control over the Scrolls, allowing access to no outsiders and issuing a strict “consensus” interpretation. As Roland de Vaux, director of Excavations in Jerusalem stated in his preface to The Dead Sea Scriptures: “…which gives reasonable solutions and rejects the absurd interpretations which gave recently been given.” Baigent & Leigh make clear how present pope Benedictus XVI, Joseph Ratzinger, operated as modern Inquisitor strictly controlling the process and interpretation of the texts. But also the various governments, the black market and the ugly way of conducting the first examinations of the scrolls back in the 40s and 50s of the twentieth Century. The Dead Sea Scrolls Deception not only testifies of the deception in this piece of research, but also shares possible explanations on the nature of the Qumran community, and the connections with both positions and persons from the Temple priests in Jerusalam, Zealots and Early Christian Church. The authors follow the conclusions that Robert Eisenman drew from the scrolls. Even in 2012 it costs a lot of effort to distinguish between ‘complete’ translations or ‘sound’ interpretations of the Dead Sea Scrolls texts. Upon a reading of the The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English may be the one. Upon reading the Wikipedia article on the Dead Sea Scrolls, it’s clear that Baigent & Leigh are narrow-focused too, disregarding the Biblical books found and roughly concentrated on historical errands and after that the Eisenman thesis. Why no other thesis? Why not a solution or synthesis based on own research? As with the Bible itself, I’d prefer reading the sources, not the commentaries first.

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LibraryThing member JVioland

A conspiracy! Yeah, that's it! A conspiracy! Bull. Anyone who has an interest in the Dead Sea Scrolls should read summaries of them or Millar Burrows book first. Then you may appreciate it for its bluster. It is clearly biased against the Roman Catholic Church.

LibraryThing member MiaCulpa

An interesting study over the controversy surrounding the discovery and the speed (or lack there of) of the team tasked with translating to publish their findings. Of course, where the authors see conspiracy, many of us see a bunch of academics just taking a long time to ensure they have all the

translations right.

The authors make big claims against the researchers but back it up with precious little evidence.

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LibraryThing member kakadoo202

First half just a big complaint about the inaccessibility to the rolls and then just very vage info and comparing to the Bible. I hoped for a bit more fire work.

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