BARlines

New Call for Publication of Dead Sea Scrolls

Under the title “The Scrolls’ Hidden Message,” Newsweek featured a story last November on the failure of scholars to publish the Dead Sea Scrolls assigned to them, in some cases, more than 30 years ago. Apparently triggered by a BAR story protesting the situation (see “Jerusalem Rolls Out Red Carpet for Biblical Archaeology Congress,” BAR 10:04), Newsweek lined up several prominent scholars, who have now publicly decried the fact that “hundreds of fragments are still unavailable to any but the handful of professors to whom they were issued for editing.” Newsweek quoted James A. Sauer, president of the American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR) as saying, “Only a very few of the research responsibilities have been met.” James H. Charlesworth, editor of the new edition of the Pseudepigrapha and a professor at Princeton Theological Seminary, called the situation, “the scandal of our time.” Both scholars (as has BAR) called for prompt publication of photographs of the unpublished materials so they will be available to all scholars.