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The Dead Sea Scrolls Deception Michael Baigent & Richard Leigh
Description From The Publisher: Over the last two years a controversy has erupted in the world's press over the Dead Sea Scrolls that were found in caves 20 miles east of Jerusalem between 1947 and 1956. Professor Geza Vermes of Oxford calls it "the academic scandal par excellence of the twentieth century", Professor Morton Smith of Columbia University protests that "there is no justification for the cover-up", and Professor Robert Eisenman of California says "we're tired of being treated contemptuously". Working closely with Eisenman - one of the foremost experts in biblical archaeology and scholarship - Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh have succeeded in uncovering the story of how and why up to 75 per cent of the eight hundred ancient Hebrew and Aramaic manuscripts, hidden for some nineteen centuries, still remain concealed from the world today. But their book is more than an exposé of a bitter struggle between scholars who have begun passing round bootlegged photographs of scrolls yet to be released. Through interviews, historical analysis and a close study of both published and unpublished scroll material, the authors are able to reveal the true cause of all the trouble, for these documents disclose nothing less than a new account of the origins of Christianity and an alternative and highly significant version of much of the New Testament. The oldest Biblical manuscripts in existence, the Dead Sea Scrolls were found in caves near Jerusalem in 1947, only to be kept a tightly held secret for nearly fifty more years, until the Huntington Library unleashed a storm of controversy in 1991 by releasing copies of the Scrolls. In this gripping investigation authors Baigent and Leigh set out to discover how a small coterie of orthodox biblical scholars gained control over the Scrolls, allowing access to no outsiders and issuing a strict "consensus" interpretation. The authors' questions begin in Israel, then lead them to the corridors of the Vatican and into the offices of the Inquisition. With the help of independent scholars, historical research, and careful analysis of available texts, the authors reveal what was at stake for these orthodox guardians: The Scrolls present startling insights into early Christianity -- insights that challenge the Church's version of the "facts." More than just a dramatic exposé of the intrigues surrounding these priceless documents, The Dead Sea Scrolls Deception presents nothing less than a new, highly significant perspective on Christianity. Reviews A wonder of savage detail....The reading of the archaeological, historical and analytic-textual evidence is always ingenious. —John Leonard New York Newsday Not for the theologically faint of heart. —Chicago Tribune
Reader's Index Send us your favorite quotes or passages from this book. About the Authors Michael Baigent graduated from Canterbury University, Christchurch, New Zealand. Richard Leigh followed his degree from Tufts University with postgraduate studies at the University of Chicago and the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Together the authors have also written Holy Blood, Holy Grail; The Messianic Legacy; and The Temple and the Lodge. Both writers live in England. Table of Contents
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Dead Sea Scrolls
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