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BYU Contributions to Scroll Scholarship

Led and supported by the Brigham Young University Institute for the Study and Preservation of Ancient Religious Texts (ISPART), Latter-day Saint scholars are making significant contributions to scroll scholarship.

One prime example is an important research database, the Dead Sea Scrolls on CD-ROM: the FARMS Electronic Database, released in 1999 through Brill Academic Publishers. This scholarly research tool contains fully indexed and cross-linked digitized images of the nonbiblical scrolls, corresponding transcriptions and translations, and reference material in an easily searchable and viewable format. The FARMS database functions primarily as a comprehensive concordance providing instantaneous and comprehensive searches of all the included texts. The search routines allow users to design sophisticated searches for words or phrases for all or selected forms of words. The program promises to accelerate the pace of scrolls research and publication. In 2004 a new edition of this database will be produced containing previously unavailable Biblical and non-Biblical scroll images and transcriptions and linked English translations, in a morphologically searchable format. This will become the most complete and most accurate publication of the scrolls. Full concordance will be provided in both English and the original languages of the scrolls.

The database is produced by the Center for Manuscript Research at Brigham Young University —not FARMS- in collaboration with the Ancient Biblical Manuscript Center, BYU, the Dead Sea Scrolls Foundation in Jerusalem, the Israel Antiquities Authority, and Oxford University Press.

Other recent Latter-day Saint contributions to work on the Dead Sea Scrolls include the following:

  • In April 1995 BYU and FARMS sponsored a scholarly conference in Jerusalem on the scrolls. Held at BYU's Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies, the event included papers by many members of Tov's team of scrolls scholars. Brill Academic Publishers published the proceedings in the 1996 book Current Research and Technological Developments on the Dead Sea Scrolls, edited by BYU professors of Hebrew Donald W. Parry (a member of the international team of scrolls scholars) and Stephen D. Ricks. The book is volume 20 of the Studies on the Texts of the Desert of Judah (STDJ), a series edited by Florentino Garcia Martinez and A. S. Van Der Woude.
  • In March 1996 FARMS and BYU sponsored a conference at BYU that explored the scrolls from the vantage point of LDS scripture and teachings, resulting in the 1997 book LDS Perspectives on the Dead Sea Scrolls, edited by BYU professors Donald W. Parry and Dana M. Pike and containing articles by Parry and Pike, by fellow BYU professors and members of the international team Andrew C. Skinner and David Rolph Seely, and other scholars and researchers from FARMS and BYU.
  • In July 1996 BYU and FARMS sponsored the 1996 International Conference on the Dead Sea Scrolls. Nearly 50 scholars from around the world joined with some 100 local participants to listen to 45 presentations aimed at advancing scholarship on the scrolls and related studies. The proceedings were published in 1999 by Brill Academic Publishers as volume 30 in the STDJ series, titled The Provo International Conference on the Dead Sea Scrolls, edited by Donald W. Parry and Eugene Ulrich, a professor of Hebrew scripture at the University of Notre Dame.
  • In 1996 Brill Academic Publishers, with assistance from FARMS, published volume 19 in the STDJ series, titled A Bibliography of the Finds in the Desert of Judah, 1970-95, edited by Donald W. Parry and Florentino Garcia Martinez of the University of Groningen (Netherlands).
  • In 1997 FARMS sponsored an exhibit at BYU's Museum of Art titled Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls, which featured several original Dead Sea Scrolls from Jordanian collections along with artifacts from the ancient community of Qumran and scroll replicas. The exhibit was in conjunction with a major exhibit on loan to BYU from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the IAA: The Story of Masada: Discoveries from the Excavation, which included original scrolls found at the ancient Judean desert fortress of Masada. Also that year FARMS published a booklet-Ancient Scrolls from the Dead Sea, edited by FARMS research director M. Gerald Bradford-containing photographs of the scrolls on exhibit and accompanying background data, commentary, and translations.
  • In 1998 FARMS completed its archive of digitized images of nonbiblical material from the Dead Sea Scrolls-the largest such collection known, consisting of 5,600 images scanned from photographs owned by the ABMC.
  • In 1998 BYU's television station, KBYU-TV, produced a documentary titled "The Dead Sea Scrolls: Voices from the Desert," which aired on the Discovery Channel.
  • In 1999 KBYU produced a documentary titled "LDS Perspectives on the Dead Sea Scrolls," which aired in January of that year on KBYU-TV.
  • In 1999 Brill Academic Publishers published The Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsaa), edited by Donald W. Parry (from BYU) and Elisha Qimron. The volume is a new transcription of the Isaiah scroll based on the original leather scroll itself and three sets of photographs provided by FARMS.
  • From 10 March through 11 June 2000, the LDS Church helped to sponsor an exhibit on the Dead Sea Scrolls at Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History.

Studies by Latter-day Saint Scholars

  • Bradford, Gerald M., ed. Ancient Scrolls from the Dead Sea: Photographs and Commentary on a Unique Collection of Scrolls. Provo, Utah: FARMS, 1997.
  • Brown, S. Kent. "The Dead Sea Scrolls: A Mormon Perspective." BYU Studies 23 (winter 1983): 49 - 66.
  • Cloward, Robert A. "Dead Sea Scrolls: LDS Perspective." In Encyclopedia of Mormonism, edited by Daniel H. Ludlow, 1:363 - 64. New York: Macmillan, 1992.
  • García Martínez, Florentino and Donald W. Parry, eds. A Bibliography of the Finds in the Desert of Judah, 1970-95. Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, 1996.
  • Miner, Gayle F., David V. Arnold, David G. Long, Douglas G. Thompson, ThomasW. Karlinsey, Perry J. Hardin, and Elaine M. Alger. "Archaeological Applications of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR)." In The Provo Conference on the Dead Sea Scrolls: Technological Innovations, New Texts, and Reformatted Issues, edited by Donald W. Parry and Eugene Ulrich, 32 - 46. Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, 1999.
  • Nibley, Hugh W. "Apocryphal Writings and Teachings of the Dead Sea Scrolls." In Temple and Cosmos. The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley, vol. 12, edited by Don E. Norton, 264 - 335. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book and FARMS, 1992.
  • "Churches in the Wilderness." In Nibley on the Timely and the Timeless. Provo, Utah: BYU Religious Studies Center, 1978. Reprinted in The Prophetic Book of Mormon. The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley, vol. 8, edited by John W. Welch, 289 - 327. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book and FARMS, 1989.
  • "The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Book of Mormon." In An Approach to the Book of Mormon, 3rd ed. The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley, vol. 6, edited by John W. Welch, 169-221. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book and FARMS, 1988. Since Cumorah. 2nd ed. The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley, vol. 7, edited by John W. Welch. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book and FARMS, 1988.
  • Since Cumorah. 2nd ed. The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley, vol. 7, edited by John W. Welch. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book and FARMS, 1988.
  • "The Dead Sea Scrolls: Some Questions and Answers." Instructor, July 1963 233-35. Reprinted in Old Testament and Related Studies. The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley, vol. 1, edited by John W. Welch, Gary P. Gillum, and Don E. Norton, 245-51. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book and FARMS, 1986.
  • "More Voices from the Dust." Instructor, March 1956, 71 - 72, 74. Reprinted in Old Testament and Related Studies. The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley, vol. 1, edited by John W. Welch, Gary P. Gillum, and Don E. Norton, 239-44. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book and FARMS, 1986.
  • "Qumran and the Companions of the Cave." Revue de Qumran 5 (April 1965): 177 - 98. Reprinted as "Qumran and the Companions of the Cave: The Haunted Wilderness." In Old Testament and Related Studies. The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley, vol. 1, edited by , 253-84. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book and FARMS, 1986.
  • "Appendix 1: From the Dead Sea Scrolls." In The Message of the Joseph Smith Papyri: An Egyptian Endowment. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1975.
  • Parry, Donald W. "4QSama (4Q51): A Preliminary Edition of 1 Samuel 25:3-31:4." In The Provo Conference on the Dead Sea Scrolls: Technological Innovations, New Texts, and Reformatted Issues, edited by Donald W. Parry and Eugene Ulrich, 58 - 71. Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, 1999.
  • "The Contribution of the Dead Sea Scrolls to Biblical Understanding." In LDS Perspectives on the Dead Sea Scrolls, edited by Donald W. Parry and Dana M. Pike, 47 - 71. Provo, Utah: FARMS, 1997.
  • "4QSama and the Tetragrammaton." In Current Research and Technological Developments on the Dead Sea Scrolls: Conference on the Texts from the Judean Desert, Jerusalem, 30 April 1995, edited by Donald W. Parry and Stephen D. Ricks, 106 - 125. Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, 1996.
  • "Retelling Samuel: Echoes of the Books of Samuel in the Dead Sea Scrolls." Revue de Qumran 17 (1996): 293 - 306.
  • Parry, Donald and Elisha Qimron, eds. The Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsaa) A New edition, vol. 32 in Studies on the Texts of the Desert of Judah, eds. Florentino García Martínez and A. S. Van Der Woude. Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, 1999.
  • Parry, Donald W., Steven W. Booras, and E. Jan Wilson. "The FARMS-BYU Dead Sea Scrolls Electronic Database," in LDS Perspectives on the Dead Sea Scrolls, edited by Donald W. Parry and Dana M. Pike, 207 - 213. Provo, Utah: FARMS, 1997.
  • Parry, Donald W. and Steven W. Booras. "The Dead Sea Scrolls CD-ROM Database Project." In Current Research and Technological Developments on the Dead Sea Scrolls: Conference on the Texts from the Judean Desert, Jerusalem, 30 April 1995, edited by Donald W. Parry and Stephen D. Ricks, 239 - 252. Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, 1996.
  • Parry, Donald W. and Stephen D. Ricks, The Dead Sea Scrolls: Questions and Responses for Latter-day Saints Provo, Utah: FARMS, 2000.
  • Pike, Dana M. "Is the Plan of Salvation Attested in the Dead Sea Scrolls?" In LDS Perspectives on the Dead Sea Scrolls, edited by Donald W. Parry and Dana M. Pike, 73 - 94. Provo, Utah: FARMS, 1997.
  • "The Book of Numbers at Qumran: Texts and Context." In Current Research and Technological Developments on the Dead Sea Scrolls: Conference on the Texts from the Judean Desert, Jerusalem, 30 April 1995, edited by Donald W. Parry and Stephen D. Ricks. Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, 1996.
  • "The `Congregation of YHWH' in the Bible and at Qumran." Revue de Qumran 17 (1996): 233-40.
  • Pike, Dan M. and Andrew C. Skinner. "4Q Miscellaneous Fragments: Progress and Problems." In The Provo Conference on the Dead Sea Scrolls: Technological Innovations, New Texts, and Reformatted Issues, edited by Donald W. Parry and Eugene Ulrich, 161 - 170. Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, 1999.
  • Ricks, Stephen D. "The Book of Mormon and the Dead Sea Scrolls." In LDS Perspectives on the Dead Sea Scrolls, edited by Donald W. Parry and Dana M. Pike, 177 - 189. Provo, Utah: FARMS, 1997.
  • "Who Wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls?" Provo, Utah: FARMS Preliminary Report, 1993.
  • Rogers, Lewis M. "The Dead Sea Scrolls: Qumran Calmly Revisited." BYU Studies 2/2 (1960): 109-28.
  • Seely, David R. "4Q437: A First Look at an Unpublished Barki Nafshi Text." In The Provo Conference on the Dead Sea Scrolls: Technological Innovations, New Texts, and Reformatted Issues, edited by Donald W. Parry and Eugene Ulrich, 147 - 160. Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, 1999.
  • "Praise, Prayer, and Worship at Qumran." In LDS Perspectives on the Dead Sea Scrolls, edited by Donald W. Parry and Dana M. Pike, 95 - 114. Provo, Utah: FARMS, 1997.
  • "The Barki Nafshi Texts (4Q434-439)." In Current Research and Technological Developments on the Dead Sea Scrolls: Conference on the Texts from the Judean Desert, Jerusalem, 30 April 1995, edited by Donald W. Parry and Stephen D. Ricks, 194 - 214. Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, 1996.
  • "The 'Circumcised Heart' in 4Q434 Barki Nafshi." Revue de Qumran 17 (1996): 527-35.
  • Skinner, Andrew C. "The Ancient People of Qumran: An Introduction to the Dead Sea Scrolls." In LDS Perspectives on the Dead Sea Scrolls, edited by Donald W. Parry and Dana M. Pike, 1 - 45. Provo, Utah: FARMS, 1997.
  • Tvedtnes, John A. "The Dead Sea Scrolls." In The Church of the Old Testament, 2nd ed. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1980.
  • Woodward, Scott R. "Putting the Pieces Together: DNA and the Dead Sea Scrolls." In LDS Perspectives on the Dead Sea Scrolls, edited by Donald W. Parry and Dana M. Pike, 191 -205. Provo, Utah: FARMS, 1997.
  • Woodward, Scott R., Blake C. Ballif, Lori C. Wood, Gila K. Bargal, and Magen Broshi. "Putting the Pieces Together: DNA and the Dead Sea Scrolls." In The Provo Conference on the Dead Sea Scrolls: Technological Innovations, New Texts, and Reformatted Issues, edited by Donald W. Parry and Eugene Ulrich, 30 - 31. Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, 1999.
  • Woodward, Scott R., Gila Kahila, Patricia Smith, Charles Greenblatt, Joe Zias, and Magen Broshi. "Analysis of Parchment Fragments from the Judean Desert Using DNA Techniques." In Current Research and Technological Developments on the Dead Sea Scrolls: Conference on the Texts from the Judean Desert, Jerusalem, 30 April 1995, edited by Donald W. Parry and Stephen D. Ricks, 215 - 238. Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, 1996.

English Translations

  • García Martínez, Florentino, trans. The Dead Sea Scrolls Translated: The Qumran Texts in English. Translated into English by Wilfred G. E. Watson. Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, 1994.
  • Vermes, Geza. The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English. New York: Penguin, 1997.
  • Wise, Michael O., Martin G. Abegg Jr., and Edward Cook. The Dead Sea Scrolls: A New Translation. San Francisco: Harper, 1996.

General Studies

  • Collins, John J. The Scepter and the Star: The Messiahs of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Other Ancient Literature. New York: Doubleday, 1995.
  • Cross Jr., Frank Moore. The Ancient Library of Qumran. 3rd ed. Minneapolis: Fortress, 1995.
  • Fitzmyer, Joseph A. Responses to 101 Questions on the Dead Sea Scrolls. New York: Paulist, 1992.
  • García Martínez, Florentino, and Julio Trebolle Barrera. The People of the Dead Sea Scrolls: Their Writings, Beliefs and Practices. Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, 1993.
  • "Messianic Hope in the Qumran Writings." In LDS Perspectives on the Dead Sea Scrolls, edited by Donald W. Parry and Dana M. Pike, 115 - 175. Provo, Utah: FARMS, 1997.
  • Kulger, A. Robert and Eileen M. Schuller. eds. The Dead Sea Scrolls at Fifty. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1999.
  • Ringgren, Helmer. The Faith of Qumran: Theology of the Dead Sea Scrolls. New York: Crossroads, 1995.
  • Scanlin, Harold. The Dead Sea Scrolls and Modern Translations of the Old Testament. Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House, 1993.
  • Schiffman, Lawrence H. Reclaiming the Dead Sea Scrolls. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1994.
  • VanderKam, James C. The Dead Sea Scrolls Today. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1994.
  • Yadin, Yigael. The Scroll of the War of the Sons of Light against the Sons of Darkness. London: Oxford University Press, 1962.
  • The Temple Scroll: The Hidden Law of the Dead Sea Sect. New York: Random House, 1985.