Holman QuickSource Guide to the Dead Sea Scrolls Now Available

MILW - Just published this month, The Holman QuickSource Guide to the Dead Sea Scrolls provides one of the best overviews of the Dead sea Scrolls and their relative importance for Christianity from Craig A. Evans, Payzant Distinguished Professor of New Testament and director of the graduate program at Acadia Divinity College in Wolfville, Nova Scotia. A widely recognized expert on the Bible and Archaeology, and Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls, Evans also authored Jesus, the Final Days (with N. T. Wright) and Fabricating Jesus and is regular guest on Dateline NBC.

Dead Sea Scrolls and the Bible Lecture Series at Milwaukee Public Museum

MILWAUKEE – The Milwaukee Public Museum has announced a series of educational lectures on the Dead Sea Scrolls which will run from now through June 3, 2010.

 Feb 18 5:30 & 7:30 PM Shalom Paul, PhD

Chair of the Dead Sea Scrolls Foundation and Professor Emeritus/Bible Dept at Hebrew University – Birth of Christianity

Mar 4 7:30 PM Lawrence H Schiffman, PhD

Edelman Professor of Hebrew 7 Judaic Studies at New York University – Israel at the Time of the Dead Sea Scrolls

Mar 18 7:30 PM Jodi Magness, PhD

Kenan Distinguished Professor in the Dept of Religious Studies at University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill – Archaeology of Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls

Mar 25 7:30 PM Martin G Abegg, PhD

Co director of the Dead Sea Scrolls Institute and Ben Zion Professor of Dead Sea Scrolls Studies at Trinity Western University – The Stories of the Milwaukee Public Museum Dead Sea Scrolls

Apr 15 7:30 PM Wesley Williams, PhD of the Michigan State University – God among the gods: Divine Plurality in the Quran and in the Light of Biblical and Ancient Near Eastern Mythic Tradition

Apr 29 7:30 PM Brent Sandy, PhD

Chair & Professor of Biblical Studies at Grace College – In Search of the Holy Grail: How much difference would it make if we found the original handwritten copies of the New Testament?

May 6 7:30 PM Andrew Teeter, PhD

Asst Professor of Hebrew/Old Testament at Harvard Divinity School – The Scriptures and their interpretation in the Dead Sea Scrolls

May 27 5:30 & 7:30 PM Emanual Tov, PhD

Mahnes Professor of Bible at Hebrew University – The Scribes of the Dead Sea Scrolls

Jun 3 7:30 PM Deirdre A Dempsey, PhD

Assoc Professor in the Theology Dept at Marquette University

For tickets or more information contact the Milwaukee Public Museum at 414.278.2728.

DEAD SEA SCROLLS AND THE BIBLE EXHIBITION TEACHER GUIDE

Teachers of archeology, history, language, religion, art, anthropology and other various subjects will find Dead Sea Scrolls and the Bible an excellent supplement to their curriculum. The link is http://www.mpm.edu

POETRY COMPETITION

The Museum is hosting the American Institute for Archaeology(AIA)-Milwaukee Public Museum (MPM) Archaeology Fair on March 5 and 6, 2010 MPM and is sponsoring a poetry competition for Wisconsin elementary and high school students from grades 3 through 12. This program will encourage creative expression and the development of written language skills while providing teachers with a context within which to meet the WMAS for English Language Arts. (B4.1, 4.2, B8.1, 8.2; B12.1, 12.2.)

Theme: Archaeology: the study of past human life and culture through the things—pottery, tools, mummies, buildings and tombs, among others—that people leave behind.

 Deadline: February 16, 2010 (see http://www.mpm.edu/education/special/poetry-competition for more submission details)

 Who is eligible: The competition is open to all Wisconsin students in the following three grade categories: Grades 3-5, Grades 6-8, and Grades 9-12.

 Criteria: Entries will be judged on creativity, originality, imagery, artistic quality, and sense of poetic expression.

 Poetry reading at the Museum: The winners will be invited to read their poems at the Museum during the AIA fair on Saturday, March 6, 2010.

Scholar: Bible ‘telling the truth’ about Christ’s birth

NASHVILLE – The Gospel of John poetically declares, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

“The Word” refers to the Son, who since eternity past has lived in heaven. The Word for a brief 33 years also “tabernacled” among us.

John explains, “The Word became flesh and took up residence among us. We observed His glory, the glory as the One and Only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

During the Christmas season, Christians around the world read the Gospel narrative recounting how Mary and Joseph traveled to Bethlehem where Christ, the Messiah, was born in a humble stable some 2,000 years ago.

Christians accept, by faith, the truths recorded in the birth account. Jeremy Howard, editor of Bibles and reference books for the B&H Publishing Group of LifeWay Christian Resources and Ph.D. graduate from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, points to many reasons Christians can be sure the Christmas story is true.

CHRIST & THE OLD TESTAMENT

The Old Testament contains verses that point directly to Christ’s virgin birth, Howard noted.

The strongest evidence comes from Isaiah 7-9: The Immanuel prophecy begins in Isaiah 7:14 when the Lord speaks to Ahaz through Isaiah and says, “Therefore, the Lord Himself will give you a sign; The virgin will conceive, have a son, and name him Immanuel.”

Micah 5:2 also points to Christ’s birth, Howard continued. The verse reads, “Bethlehem Ephrathah, you are small among the clans of Judah; One will come from you to be ruler over Israel for Me. His origin is from antiquity, from eternity.”

“God is speaking about His future plans to bring peace and righteous rule to His people,” Howard said. “This is how He’s going to do it: A ruler is going to come from Bethlehem. What is peculiar about this verse is that it says, ‘His origin is from antiquity, from eternity.’ Clearly, this birth is pointing beyond the natural. It extends to the supernatural. The evidence shows that the Messiah will be more than a mere man.”

MESSIANIC EXPECTATIONS

Christ’s birth was not just a random event, Howard said; in fact, first-century Jews were looking for Messiah, literally “the anointed one.”

“We see evidences of the expectation of Christ in several extra-biblical resources,” Howard said. The first evidence is the Dead Sea Scrolls, documents that originated about 100 B.C. “Throughout the Dead Sea Scrolls, you see references to the coming Messiah,” Howard said.

The second set of evidence, Howard said, comes from the writings of Josephus and Philo, first-century scholars who discuss the expectation of Messiah.

Finally, the rabbinic literature from the second century A.D. onward reveals that Jews were waiting for Messiah.

“The first-century Jews mostly seem to be awaiting a political figure,” Howard said. “The 400 years before Christ’s birth, Israel was a subjected nation, so Jews were looking for a political kingdom.”

By and large, Jesus did not fulfill the expectations of the Jewish people, Howard said. “Mostly, they had the wrong expectations,” he said. “We see that even the disciples did not have a clear perception of Jesus. They struggled when Jesus accepted the faith of Gentiles and associated with sinners. These were expectations that confused the disciples and onlookers.”

CHRIST & THE NEW TESTAMENT

The early date of the Gospels and the eyewitnesses to the events of Jesus are both key to validating the birth narrative, Howard said.

“We know that the Book of Mark was written 20 years after the ascension of Christ, and Luke might have followed about 10 years later,” Howard said. “So 30 years from the time Christ was crucified, resurrected and ascended to heaven we have at least two of the Gospels written and starting to circulate. That puts the disciples at about 60 years of age, assuming they were contemporary with Jesus.”

Living and intact memory, Howard explained, confirms the validity of the birth account.

“Intact memory means that from the time Jesus ascended into heaven, guys such as Matthew, Mark, Luke and Peter devoted themselves to spreading the message of Christ,” Howard said. “They did not have the opportunity to forget what happened. They told the stories day in and day out.”

Living memory refers to the eyewitnesses of the events of Christ.

“If the Gospel writers tried to fabricate the stories of Christ, there would have been many eyewitnesses who would have called them into account,” Howard said. “The fact that the Gospels were penned and helped spread Christianity so quickly is proof that the writers were telling the truth.”

CHRIST & THE 21ST CENTURY

Faith is substantial and sustainable, Howard said, concerning the reliability of the birth narrative.

“I’ve spent many years studying Scripture and asking the hard questions of the faith,” he said. “What I’ve discovered, time after time and case after case, is that there is no criticism, no fact or reality that calls into question what we believe. We stand firmly on the Word of God. It has survived many criticisms for many centuries and in this day and age, I think more than ever before, we are equipped with solid answers for the challenging questions that come against us.”