I am sitting on the couch in my family room browsing through my new two-volume Encyclopedia of the Dead Sea Scrolls (, eds.; Oxford, 2000; Buy from Amazon.ca | Buy from Amazon.com) compliments of Jim West (see here for how I won the set). From the condition the package was in when I picked it up today, it appears Canada Post was practicing their corner kicks with it! Thankfully, the volumes were not damaged.
This is an excellent reference work with over 450 original articles by 100 distinguished scholars from diverse traditions (and I was happy to see many Canadians in the contributor list). Looking through the list of contributors is a virtual who’s who of scrolls scholars, including blogger Jim Davila. It has entries from Aaron to Zoroastrianism and is the most comprehensive critical synthesis of current knowledge about the Dead Sea scrolls, and their historical, archaeological, linguistic and religious contexts. It has an awesome index as well as a provisional list of scrolls, among other things. Most of the articles are written in non-technical language and as such can be recommended to all readers. I recommend it to all — especially if Jim will send it to you! 🙂
My only beef is the title; why is Oxford University Press publishing an “Encyclopedia” rather than an “Encyclopaedia“?
Thanks again, Jim!
$295 ???? Good grief! You’ll be comforted to know that I didn’t spend a penny on it- it was sent for me to review. If I had spent that much on it, needless to say, it would still be here!
As to the condition of the package- as much as I spent on shipping, they should have driven it up there in their personal car and carried it to you on a palm frond.
😉
enjoy!