Discoveries in the Judaean Desert


Discoveries in the Judaean Desert is the official 40-volume publication that serves as the editio princeps for the Dead Sea Scrolls. It is published by Oxford University Press.

Publication details

The international team of scholars, involved in the publishing project, come from North America, Israel, and Europe. Most volumes are written in English; a few volumes are in French. The volumes cover texts from the Qumran findings, as well as analyses of archaeological data and archaeological missions. Volume 39 provides an introduction for, and summaries of, the preceding 38 volumes.

History

The first wave of publication took place between 1955 and 1982. In this period material from the findings at Qumran was published over seven volumes.. Editor-in-chief of the first five volumes was Roland de Vaux. In the period from 1962 to 1968 the series was, for a limited time, published under the name Discoveries in the Judaean Desert of Jordan. de Vaux was replaced by P. Benoit O.P, who edited volumes 6 and 7. Benoits term as editor ended in 1986. He was replaced by John Strugnell of Harvard Divinity School, who edited volume 8.
Important editorial work on the biblical scrolls were carried out by Eugene Ulrich, who, for a number of years, assumed special responsibility for this task. From 1985, and onwards, Ulrich functioned as chief editor of all the biblical texts from cave 4.
Towards the end of the 1980s there was some controversy, in the international academic community, surrounding the slow pace of publication. Only eight volumes were published in the period 1955–1990, and it attracted criticism from several commentators.
A few explanations for the delay in publication were given. Contributing factors included the lack of funding and scholarly resources.
Soon after this period of controversy, Dr. Emanuel Tov, of Hebrew University in Jerusalem, took over as editor in chief. Under the editorship of Tov, in the early 1990s, the international publishing team was reorganized and enlarged. The reorganization involved support from the Israel Antiquities Authority.During the peak of the publication project, in the 1990s, the international team consisted of ninety-eight scholars. In the ten years leading up to 2001 Dr. Tov and his team issued 28 volumes. Tov resigned as editor-in-chief in 2009.

Reviews and debate

Marcus reviewed Discoveries in the Judaean Desert, Vol. I: Qumran Cave I. He complimented the authors on their great effort and their contribution to the knowledge of the Qumran findings. On the other hand he pointed out a few inconsistencies in the translation of texts, but only as a fair remark to an otherwise admirable publication.
Knohl reviewed Discoveries in the Judaean Desert, Volume 10: Qumran Cave 4, V. Miqṣat Ma῾ase ha-Torah. He complimented the work of the editors, Strugnell and Qimron, but suggested a different dating for the scroll than the dating stated by the authors.

List of Volumes