
The Damascus Document
Steven D. Fraade(Author)
Oxford University Press
Published on 19. November 2021
Book
Hardback
206 pages
978-0-19-873433-8 (ISBN)
Description
Steve D. Fraade offers a new translation, with notes, and detailed commentary to the Dead Sea Scroll most commonly called the Damascus Document, based on both ancient manuscripts from caves along the western shore of the Dead Sea, and medieval manuscripts from the Cairo Geniza. The text is one of the longest and most important of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Its importance derives from several aspects of its contents: its extensive collections of laws, both for the sectarian community that authored it and for the rest of Israel; some of the oldest examples of scriptural interpretation, both legal and narrative, both implicit and explicit, with important implications for our understanding of the evolving status of the Hebrew canon; some of the clearest expressions, often in hortatory form, of the community's self-understanding as an elect remnant of Israel that understands itself in dualistic opposition to the rest of Israel, its practices, and its leaders; important expressions of the community's self-understanding as a priestly alternative to the sacrificial worship in the Jerusalem Temple; expressions of an apocalyptic, eschatological understanding of living as the true Israel in the "end of days;" important expressions of attitudes toward woman, sexual activity, and marriage; importance for our understanding of ancient modes of teaching and of ritual practice; importance for the study of the history of the Hebrew language and its scribal practices. The volume contains a substantial introduction, dealing with these aspects of the Damascus Document and locating its place within the Dead Sea Scrolls more broadly as well as the historical context of ancient Judaism that gave rise to this text.
Reviews / Votes
What sets this commentary apart is its philosophical sophistication, adopting a broadly Gadamerian approach to the question of what a "work" is. * Adam Booth, C.S.C., Stonehill College, North Easton, MA, Catholic Books Review * Scholars in a variety of fields should salute the publication of Steven Fraade's new commentary on the Damascus Document. * Lawrence H. Schiffman, Judge Abraham Lieberman Professor of Hebrew and Judaic Studies, New York University and Director of the Global Institute for Advanced Research in Jewish Studies. * A most pleasing volume that demonstrates clarity, erudition and discernment throughout. * Siam Bhayro, Journal of Jewish Studies * The Damascus Document, the second volume in the series, Oxford Commentary on the Dead Sea Scrolls (OCDSS), is such a work that will be helpful to both new readers and experts...Fraade's balanced and succinct style of commentary is congruous with the mission of the Oxford Commentary on the Dead Sea Scrolls series- "to provide scholarship of the highest level that is accessible to non-specialists." The commentary is a product of and testament to the author's meticulous use of the comparative method and will surely contribute to conversations between scholars of Scrolls and specialists in cognate fields. * Tianruo Jiang, The Articles * These brief observations underscore the scholarly value of this commentary. The author deserves commendation for having concisely assembled a substantial body of documentation pertaining to the various manuscripts of the Damascus Document. * Emile Puech, Revue Biblique * Fraade's learned com-mentary bridges these fissures and, in doing so, demonstrates the creative and intellectual scale of ambition and learrting of the ancient authors of this text. The volume will become a standard point of reference for scholars and stu-dents of the Damascus Document, Second Temple Judaism and the history of Jewish law. * Charlotte Hempel, Recension * These few remarks underline the interest in reading this commentary. We will be grateful to the author for having gathered in a few condensed pages a rich documentation concerning the various copies of the Damascus Document regulating family life, according to the law of Moses correctly interpreted, in the various Essene camps distributed in towns and villages, a composition parallel to the Rule of the Community for singles of Qumran. * Emile Puech, Revue de livres * Fraade's presentation of the Damascus Document provides a thorough introduction to the content and historical context of the document.... this commentary will prove highly valuable to both non-specialists and scholars alike. This handy volume represents yet another significant step in making the Dead Sea Scrolls accessible to a wider readership. * Cecilia Wassen, Dead Sea Discoveries *More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Dimensions
Height: 237 mm
Width: 158 mm
Thickness: 20 mm
Weight
476 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-873433-8 (9780198734338)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Steven D. Fraade
The Damascus Document
E-Book
11/2021
1st Edition
OUP eBook
€54.49
Available for download

Steven D. Fraade
The Damascus Document
E-Book
11/2021
1st Edition
OUP eBook
€54.49
Available for download
Person
Steven D. Fraade is the Mark Taper Professor of the History of Judaism at Yale University in the Department of Religious Studies and the Program in Judaic Studies. He has held a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship and was awarded a National Jewish Book Award for Scholarship for From Tradition to Commentary. Fraade has published widely in the history of ancient Judaism, rabbinic literature, multilingualism in antiquity, scriptural translation and interpretation, ancient Jewish legal rhetoric, and the Dead Sea Scrolls. He is the author Enosh and His Generation: Pre-Israelite Hero and History in Post-Biblical Interpretation (1984), From Tradition to Commentary: Torah and its Interpretation in the Midrash Sifre to Deuteronomy (1991), and Legal Fictions: Studies of Law and Narrative in the Discursive Worlds of Ancient Jewish Sectarians and Sages (2011). He is the co-editor of Rabbinic Perspectives: Rabbinic Literature and the Dead Sea Scrolls (2006).
Author
Mark Taper Professor of the History of JudaismMark Taper Professor of the History of Judaism, Yale University
Content
List of Abbreviations Introduction Texts, Translations, Notes, and Commentary Bibliography Index of Ancient Sources Index of Modern Scholars Index of Subjects