The Scrolls from the Dead Sea

The Scrolls from the Dead Sea is a reportage study by Edmund Wilson on the discovery, early handling, and scholarly interpretation of the Dead Sea Scrolls. First issued by Oxford University Press in New York in 1955 with a concurrent London edition by W. H. Allen, the book expands Wilson's long essay on the subject published in The New Yorker on 14 May 1955.^[1][2][3] A paperback reprint followed from Meridian Books in 1959.^[4] A revised and expanded treatment appeared as The Dead Sea Scrolls, 1947-1969 with Oxford University Press in 1969, incorporating Wilson's later reporting on new texts and excavations and running roughly 320 to 328 pages in early printings.^[5][6]

The Scrolls from the Dead Sea

Author	Edmund Wilson
Language	English
Subject	Dead Sea Scrolls, Qumran, Biblical studies
Publisher	Oxford University Press, W. H. Allen
Publication date	1955
Publication place	United States
Media type	Print
Pages	vi, 121[1]
OCLC	1150534

Content

Wilson recounts the initial discovery by Bedouin near Qumran, the transit of the first seven scrolls into ecclesiastical and scholarly hands, and the roles of dealers and intermediaries such as Metropolitan Mar Athanasius Yeshue Samuel. He describes the early verification of authenticity, the transfer of several scrolls to the United States, and the negotiation history around acquisitions.^[3] The narrative then surveys Roland de Vaux's excavations at Khirbet Qumran and the interpretive consensus that the site housed a sectarian community. Wilson profiles the Essene hypothesis, summarizes key texts including the Isaiah Scroll and the Community Rule, and relates the debates over dating, scribal practices, and ritual language.^[3] The book closes with portraits of scholars active in the 1950s and with reflections on the implications of the finds for biblical studies and the history of Judaism.^[3][7][8][9]

No.	Chapter title
1	The Metropolitan Samuel
2	The Essene Order
3	The Monastery
4	The Teacher of Righteousness
5	What Would Renan Have Said
6	General Yadin

The 1969 expansion adds chapters on publications that appeared after 1955, among them the Genesis Apocryphon, the Psalms Scroll, and the Nahum Pesher, and reports on Masada and on the Copper Scroll. It contextualizes the Temple Scroll obtained by Yigael Yadin after 1967 and includes interviews and scene reports written for The New Yorker in March and April 1969.^{[6][10][11][12][13]}

Wilson's arguments and evidence

Wilson writes as a reporter who reads sources, visits sites, and interviews excavators and text editors. He endorses the identification of the Qumran group with an Essene-like order described by Josephus, Philo, and Pliny, and he treats the Qumran complex as a monastic settlement with a scriptorium, refectory, and ritual installations documented by de Vaux's team.^[3] He presents the early scholarly case for continuity between sectarian eschatology and elements of early Christian discourse and he frames this as a question of cultural transmission rather than simple dependence. In the 1969 volume he extends the discussion, summarizes new scroll editions, and relays divergent scholarly positions, including those of Frank Moore Cross and Yigael Yadin. He also registers claims in circulation about the Teacher of Righteousness as a messianic model and about Essene influence on Christian doctrine, and he attributes these views to identifiable scholars and sources.^[6][13]

Analysis

The volume established a durable template for English language public writing on the Scrolls, combining site reportage, interviews, and synthesis of technical publications. The 1955 chapters codified the Essene hypothesis for a broad readership and depicted Qumran as a disciplined community with ritual and scribal infrastructure. The 1969 expansion documented the shift from initial publication of Cave 1 materials to a wider corpus, and it tracked new debates on biblical text families, sectarian law, and the status of post 1967 acquisitions such as the Temple Scroll.^{[3][10][11][12]} The combined project positioned Wilson as an informed intermediary between specialist literature and general readers, and it registered the range of scholarly proposals rather than pressing a single thesis.^[6]

Reaction

Contemporary notices identified the book as a major contribution to public understanding of the Scrolls and treated it as an accessible synthesis of rapidly moving research. Journal of the American Academy of Religion listed the Oxford edition in 1956 with bibliographic particulars by John C. Trever, who was directly involved with the first photographs of the Isaiah Scroll.^[14] A period notice in the Detroit Jewish News described the Oxford volume as an expanded form of Wilson's New Yorker essay, signaling its journalistic origin and intended audience.^[15] The revised Oxford edition drew renewed assessment. Kirkus Reviews characterized Wilson as a scholarly reporter who synthesizes competing positions and who foregrounds theories about possible Essene to Christian continuities while also surveying excavations and new texts.^[6]

Later compendia and reissues have kept the work in circulation and have reproduced its chapter architecture. Routledge's Israel and the Dead Sea Scrolls presents the 1955 chapters together with Wilson's later essays and updates, including sections on the Genesis Apocryphon, the Psalms Scroll, the Nahum Pesher, and the Copper Scroll.^[16][13]