Books by Ian Werrett
This book represents the first comprehensive study on the concept of ritual purity in the Dead Se... more This book represents the first comprehensive study on the concept of ritual purity in the Dead Sea Scrolls since the full publication of the legal material from Qumran. Utilizing an independent approach to the relevant documents from Qumran, this study discusses the primary and secondary literature on the five major categories of impurity in the scrolls (i.e., diseases, clean/unclean animals, corpses, bodily discharges, and sexual misdeeds). This examination is supported by a comparison between the scrolls' purity legislations and their biblical counterparts. The book culminates with a comparison between the purity rulings in the scrolls and a diachronic reading of the explicit agreements and disagreements found therein. The result is a far more comprehensive and nuanced interpretation than has been previously offered.
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Papers by Ian Werrett
The Dead Sea Scrolls at Qumran and the Concept of a Library, 2016
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Purity and the Forming of Religious Traditions in the Ancient Mediterranean World and Ancient Judaism, 2013
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Scribes and Their Remains - SSEJC & LSTS, 2019
It has often been said that the scribes of the Dead Sea Scrolls community appear to have had a “r... more It has often been said that the scribes of the Dead Sea Scrolls community appear to have had a “relaxed” or “liberal attitude” when it comes to the form of the books that would eventually become canonized as the Hebrew Bible. Not only do the “biblical” books from Qumran display a high degree of textual pluriformity, but so too do such as the Community Rule and Damascus Document. Numerous explanations have been forwarded concerning this phenomenon, but many of these hypotheses have been driven by a post-canonical mindset that fetishizes the Hebrew Bible and/or awards pride of place to those manuscripts that are the most intact. Given that the literacy rates in the Second Temple period were staggeringly low, and that the vast majority of individuals would have heard the stories of the “Bible” as opposed to reading, writing, or editing them, it stands to reason that the physical form of the written texts, be they “biblical” or some other genre, would have been influenced by the sensibilities and practices of the culture in which they were created. With that in mind, I will attempt to show how the scribes of the Second Temple period, and their writings, were affected by low literacy rates and the prevailing trends of the oral tradition. In so doing, I hope to challenge the notion that the Qumran community had a “relaxed” attitude towards textual pluriformity and move us closer to understanding the literary perspectives of those who lived in the waning days of the pre-canonical era.
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Ritual Innovation in the Hebrew Bible and Early Judaism , Sep 2016
While there may be compelling evidence connecting the cemetery at Qumran to the site, such as the... more While there may be compelling evidence connecting the cemetery at Qumran to the site, such as their proximity to one another and their relative chronological dates, there are equally compelling reasons for us to be cautious when attempting to interpret the evidence from the cemetery through the lens of the Qumran Essene hypothesis, the witness of the scrolls, and/or the archaeological record of Qumran. In the ensuing discussion I will endeavour to discuss two separate, yet related, topics with regard to the cemetery at Qumran. First, I will examine how scholars have interpreted the supposedly idiosyncratic burial architecture at Qumran over the last six decades. And, second, I will try to determine whether any ritual innovations can be detected with regard to the construction and architecture of the shaft graves at Qumran.
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Bible Odyssey
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The War Scroll, Violence, War and Peace in the Dead Sea Scrolls and Related Literature, Nov 2015
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The Dead Sea Scrolls at Qumran and the Concept of a Library, Nov 2015
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Bible Odyssey, Aug 2014
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Bible Odyssey, Jul 3, 2014
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Purity and the Forming of Religious Traditions in the Ancient Mediterranean World and Ancient Judaism, 2013
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This World and the World to Come: Soteriology in Early …, Jan 1, 2011
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Northern Lights on the Dead Sea Scrolls, Jan 1, 2009
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Revue de Qumran 23/4 (2008): 475-89
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Henoch Journal, 2006
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Book Reviews by Ian Werrett
Dead Sea Discoveries, 2013
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Journal of Catholic Education, 2012
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Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 2020
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Books by Ian Werrett
Papers by Ian Werrett
Book Reviews by Ian Werrett