The Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit in Fort Worth
I have no plans to go to Texas this year, and more’s the pity, because there appears to be an above-average Dead Sea Scrolls exhibition at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. The part of the exhibition that impresses me is the line up for the accompanying lecture series, featuring Larry Schiffman, an all-star team from Hebrew University (Emanuel Tov, Yosef Garfinkel, Shalom Paul, Amnon Ben-Tor) and the director general of the Jordanian Department of Antiquities. I can only hope that some of the lectures will be recorded for those of us unable to make it.
Also on display are the Gabriel Stone and St. John’s Bible.
Jim Davila properly questions a newspaper account that claims that the exhibition will include “the Isaiah scroll, the Habakkuk Commentary, the Manual of Discipline, and the full Copper Scroll” – in fact, a press release informs us that those particular items are all facsimiles.
BLT 
Theophrastus:
I went to this one (http://www.discoverytsx.com/exhibitions/dead-sea-scrolls/the-ten-commandments) with my wife back on December 28, 2011. Wonderful experience. The place was packed. They had a lot of items besides the scrolls being desplayed. And at the end our time there, to literally come face-to-face with the oldest parchment of the Ten Commandments was something I will never forget. And I had no idea until we went to the exhibit how small the writing of these documents actually are. If anyone has the time to go to an exhibit of these items, do so.
My wife was just asking me about this. We live in Fort Worth but only if our summer travel schedule allows should get by to see the exhibit and/or attend some of the lectures. If we do, I’ll report back here. Thanks for the post.
Russ, that’s a wonderful memory — thanks for sharing it with us. There is a very special feeling associated with seeing original manuscripts of such ancient age.
Kurk, I’d be happy to hear your reports.
There is a major Dead Sea Scrolls exhibition in Philadelphia through October 14 featuring all authentic objects and scrolls including 10 scrolls, over 600 other objects and multi-media over 15,000 square feet. http://www.fi.edu/scrolls/
Troy, thanks for sharing that.
Your note made me wonder about some other North American exhibitions of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and Google revealed an interesting lecture series that was held in 2009 at the Royal Ontario Museum. Those lectures were recorded and are available for download:
http://www.rom.on.ca/exhibitions/special/scrolls.php/