Eugene Ulrich - October 09, 2006

John A. O'Brien Chair, Hebrew Scripture and Theology, University of Notre DamePhoto of Eugene Ulrich

"The Impact of the Dead Sea Scrolls on Our Bible"

8:00 PM Monday, October 09, 2006
Montana Theatre

Co-author of The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible: The Oldest Known Bible Translated for the First Time into English and one of three General Editors of the Scrolls International Publication Project, Professor Ulrich is a leading authority on Scripture. In his lecture, he will explain the ways in which the Scrolls illuminate a previously undocumented period in the history of the biblical books.

"Major Surprises in the Biblical Dead Sea Scrolls"

3:10 PM Monday, October 09, 2006
Gallagher Business Building 123

You are cordially invited to attend a seminar with Dr. Eugene Ulrich, a specialist in the Hebrew Scriptures, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the Septuagint. Since receiving a Ph.D. in Ancient Near Eastern Languages and the Hebrew Bible from Harvard University in 1975, Dr. Ulrich has established a worldwide reputation as a scholar of Scripture.  He became one of three General Editors of the Scrolls as well as an Area Editor for Oxford’s Encyclopedia of the Dead Sea Scrolls after participating on the translation team of both the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible and the New American Bible.  His published works include six volumes of critical editions of the biblical scrolls in the Discoveries in the Judaean Desert series from Oxford University Press. The paperback edition of a book that he co-authored, The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible: The Oldest Known Bible Translated for the First Time into English, appeared in 2002, the same year that he won the Notre Dame Research Achievement Award. Dr. Ulrich also has received the Award Medal of the University of Helsinki (1997) and was appointed to the Grinfield Lectureship on the Septuagint at the University of Oxford (1998-2000). In 2001, he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His work has been honored in two festschrifts.

The seminar will offer:

  • an introduction to the Qumran site, the manuscripts discovered, and the process of editing the scrolls for publication;
  • a veritable parade of diverse surprises encountered in the biblical scrolls, offering an explanation of the significance of each; and
  • an exploration of the new developmental view of the history of the biblical text now available.

This last is possible since the scrolls are older by a millennium than our previous Hebrew codices and illumine a previously undocumented period in the history of the biblical books.