Mystery and Meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls - Hershel Shanks

Advantages: A good collection of articles on the scrolls
Disadvantages: Other perspectives are sometimes downplayed in favour of Shanks' own views

...direction. This volume, The Mystery and Meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls, concentrates primarily on context (both religious and historical), meaning and implications of the Scrolls. Among the Scrolls were biblical texts (some of which differ slightly, others radically from the biblical texts which have come down to us today), accounting scrolls, commentaries, calendars, and, perhaps the most mysterious and 'juicy', apocalyptic texts, with characters ...
...and the Wicked Priest. The first few chapters do talk about the Scroll history, including some of the intrigues. However, the bulk of the book examines theories about the proto-Christian and Essene teachings found in the scrolls (and whether or not these labels are even appropriate to apply to the scrolls), illumination on Judaism, especially the complexity of Judaism to be found in the generation around the destruction of the Temple, and looks forward ... Read review