The Dead Sea Scrolls: Discovery and Impact

Prof. James VanderKam, Ph.D., one of the world’s leading experts on the Dead Sea Scrolls, is the John A. O’Brien Professor of Hebrew Scriptures at the University of Notre Dame. After receiving a Fulbright Scholarship to study at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, he earned a Ph.D. in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations from Harvard University. From 1976–1991, he taught in the Department of Religion at North Carolina State University. As a member of the editorial committee that prepared the scrolls for publication, he has edited thirteen volumes in the official series Discoveries in the Judaean Desert. He is one of the editors-in-chief of the Encyclopedia of the Dead Sea Scrolls (2000). He is also the author of the award-winning book, The Dead Sea Scrolls Today (1994), which has been translated into six languages.
Prof. VanderKam’s other books include An Introduction to Early Judaism (2001), The Meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls (2002), From Joshua to Caiaphas: High Priests after the Exile (2004), and The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Bible (2012). He has also edited seven volumes of essays and published some 150 articles. He served for six years as the general editor of the Journal of Biblical Literature.
Praise for James VanderKam
“James VanderKam is an exemplary scholar of unparalleled erudition and philological expertise … VanderKam has transformed the reception of the Dead Sea Scrolls in the English speaking world through his teaching, research, and by mentoring of a new generations of scholars. His scholarship and precision are at once accessible and nuanced.” – Hindy Najman, Yale University
 “James VanderKam is a prolific and internationally acclaimed expert in early Judaism and the Dead Sea Scrolls. Anyone interested in the Scrolls can be confident that what Prof. Vanderkam has to say about them will be lucid, reliable, fascinating and informed by years of committed study and research.” –  William Adler, North Carolina State University
“Prof. James VanderKam is one of the world’s leading experts in the Dead Sea Scrolls and in the wider field of Second Temple Judaism.”– Prof. John P. Meier, University of Notre Dame
“His scholarship is on the highest level yet he presents it clearly and interestingly.” – Lawrence H. Schiffman, New York University
“There is no more informed, trustworthy, and balanced guide to the Dead Sea Scrolls than James VanderKam.” – Eugene Ulrich, University of Notre Dame
“James VanderKam has been at the forefront of the study of the Dead Sea Scrolls for more than twenty years. He is universally respected for his dispassionate, scholarly approach. There is no better guide to the Scrolls than VanderKam.”– John Collins, Yale University