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Scale of the Scrolls
Over 800 manuscripts found in 11 different caves with estimated date range of 250BC to 68AD.

THE NAZARENES
was the name given to the very early Christians, and included the relatives and disciples of Jesus Christ. They were the first followers of Jesus. The Nazarenes did not consider Jesus Christ to be the Son of God in the sense that Christians of today understand. They often referred to him as the “son of man.”

With regard to the “son of God" title the Nazarenes understood that title to refer to Jesus’ spiritual state. This may explain why other characters in the Old Testament are also referred to as “son of God.”

Jesus Christ

THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS

The scrolls were discovered in a group of caves near Khirbat Qumran in Jordan, at the northwestern end of the Dead Sea, in the year 1947 by an Arab shepherd boy. Further scrolls were discovered between the years 1947 and 1956 when a thorough search was conducted of the local caves. Altogether, 600 Hebrew and Aramaic scrolls, of leather and papyrus, were found. These texts are said to date from between 200 BC and 100 AD, and were written, it is believed, by a previously unknown Jewish brotherhood that established itself at a place called Qumran.

The scrolls include instructions regarding the brotherhood’s disciplinary code, commentaries on the Bible, hymnals, writings about the apocalypse, parts of every book of the Old Testament (except Esther), copies of the Book of Isaiah, a number of books of the Apocrypha and the Pseudepigraph (Tobit, Sirach, Jubilees, portions of Enoch, and the Testament of Levi), none of which, incidentally, had been included in the Hebrew canon of the Bible.

Interestingly the dead sea scrolls contain a lot of sectarian writings giving an insight to the way of life of the community amongst whom the writings existed. Documenting and translating the scrolls has been a long arduous process, almost a science. Experts on the scrolls, such as Robert Eisenman and Barabra Thiering, have written extensively on how the scrolls have allowed them to revise their views of Jesus Christ.


Introduction | Dead Sea Scrolls | Conclusion
Role of James
In "James: The Brother of Jesus" Robert Eisenman explores the politics surrounding the formation of the early Church and also the agenda behind the Gospels.
Teacher of Righteousness  the Wicked Priest
These are two characters mentioned in the sectarian writings found in the scrolls. Who were these people? Barbara Thiering believes the priest was Jesus and the teacher, John the Baptist.