死海文書

ヨルダンの首都アンマンの考古学博物館に展示された写本の断片

死海写本（死海文書）はヘブライ語聖書の原本を含む約850の著作の集まりであり、1947年から1956年にかけて、（歴史的にはユダヤにあたる）イスラエルの死海北西の要塞都市クムランの近くの11箇所の洞窟で発見された。この原本は、エッセネ派の信条から他の宗派の信条まで及ぶほど、異なる視点で書かれており、古代末期と算定されたヘブライ語の事実上唯一の文章なので貴重でもある。（エジプトから出土した、十戒の写しを含むナッシュ・パピルスは唯一例外である。）同様に書かれた資料は、マサダの要塞都市など近隣の場所から発見されている。

発見

この写本は若い羊飼い、Muhammed edh-Dhibに発見された。彼は洞窟の外にいたヤギを抑え付けようとして、その中に石を投げてみたのである。その石が、およそ二千年間巻き物を収めていた多くの陶器の一つに当たった。後に考古学的な発掘、地元のベドウィン居住者による調査がなされ、11の洞窟から資料が確認・修復された。1955年2月13日にイスラエルは7つの主な死海文書のうちの4つを手に入れた。

少なくとも800巻もの原本の寄稿が巻き物や巻き物の断片の中に発見された。それにはヘブライ語で書かれた本文が顕著に含まれているが、中にはアラム語やギリシャ語で書かれたものもある。他の数ある発見の中で重要なものは、1947年に発見されたイザヤ写本、ハバクク書の解説書、1952年に発見されたコッパー写本、「ダマスカス文書」の初期版である。スペインのイエズス会士のJose O'Callaghanが第7洞窟から出土したいくつかの断片は新約聖書の本文であったと主張したが、彼が確認したそのかけらはあまりに少なく、決定的な判断を下せられなかった。

公表

Most of the documents were published in a surprisingly prompt manner: all of the writing found in Cave 1 appeared in print between 1950 and 1956; the finds from 8 different caves were released in a single volume in 1963; and 1965 saw the publication of the Psalms Scroll from Cave 11. Translation of these materials quickly followed.

The exception to this speed were the documents from Cave 4, which represented 40% of the total material. The publication of these materials had been entrusted to an international team led by Father Roland de Vaux, a member of the Dominican Order in Jerusalem. This group published the first volume of the materials entrusted to them in 1968, but spent much of their energies defending their theories of the material instead of publishing it. Geza Vermes, who had been involved from the start in the editing and publication of these materials, blamed the delay – and eventual failure – on de Vaux's selection of a team unsuited to the quality of work he had planned, as well as relying "on his personal, quasi-patriarchal authority" to ensure the work was promptly done.

As a result, the finds from Cave 4 were not made public for many years. Access to the scrolls was governed by a "secrecy rule" that allowed only the original International Team – or their designates – to view the original materials. After de Vaux's death in 1971, his successors repeatedly refused to even allow the publication of photographs of these materials so that other scholars could at least make their judgements. This rule was eventually broken: first by the publication in the fall of 1991, of 17 documents reconstructed from a concordance that had been made in 1988 and had come into the hands of scholars outside of the International Team; next, that same month, of the discovery – and publication – of a complete set of photographs of the Cave 4 materials at the Huntington Library in San Marino, California that was not covered by the "secrecy rule". After some delays, these photographs were published by Robert Eisenman and James Robinson (A Facsimile Edition of the Dead Sea Scrolls, two volumes, Washington, D.C., 1991). as a result, the "secrecy rule" was lifted, and publication of the Cave 4 documents soon commenced, with five volumes in print by 1995.

解釈

In 1963 Karl Heinrich Rengstorf of the University of Münster put forth the theory that the Dead Sea scrolls originated at the library of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. This theory was rejected by most scholars during the 1960s, who maintained that the scrolls were written at Qumran rather than transported from another location. However, the theory was revived by Norman Golb and other scholars during the 1990s, who added that the scrolls probably also originated from several other libraries in addition to the Temple library.

Allegations that the Vatican suppressed the publication of the scrolls were published in the 1990s, notably by Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh, whose book The Dead Sea Scrolls Deception contains a popularized version of speculations by Robert Eisenman that some scrolls actually describe the early Christian community, characterized as more fundamentalist and rigid than the one portrayed by the New Testament, and that the life of Jesus was deliberately mythicized by Paul, possibly a Roman agent who faked his "conversion" from Saul in order to undermine the influence of anti-Roman messianic cults in the region. (Eisenman's own theories, themselves not always convincing, merely attempt to relate the career of James the Just and Paul to some of these documents.) Baigent and Leigh allege that several key scrolls were deliberately kept under wraps for decades to prevent alternative theories to the prevailing "consensus" that the scrolls had nothing to do with Christianity from arising.

Because they are frequently described as important to the history of the Bible, the scrolls are surrounded by a wide range of conspiracy theories, charging, for example, that they were entirely fabricated or planted by extra-terrestrials.

参照

• マソラ本文
• 七十人訳聖書

参考文献

• 『死海写本の謎を解く』（エドワード M. クック著、太田修司・湯川郁子共訳） ISBN 4764266105
• Frank Moore Cross, The Ancient Library of Qumran, 3rd ed., Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1995. ISBN 0800628071
• 『死海文書は誰が書いたか?』（ノーマン・ゴルブ著、前田啓子訳） ISBN 4881355910

外部リンク

• Basic Facts Regarding the Dead Sea Scrolls
• Timetable of the Discovery and Debate about the Dead Sea Scrolls
• Dead Sea Scrolls & Qumran
• The Dead Sea Scrolls (FARMS)