Qumran Research and Biblical Scholarship in Germany

Abstract

A comprehensive history of Qumran research is a complex matter, and this chapter can only develops selected aspects from a German viewpoint. It focuses on the issue of Qumran and the Bible, with special consideration of the Qumran contribution to the interpretation of the New Testament and Early Christianity. The beginnings and early history of German Qumran scholarship can be adequately considered only in light of the state of biblical scholarship at faculties of theology - mostly Protestant - in the years after the Second World War, and of the tradition of German exegetical (primarily New Testament) scholarship. Some aspects are significant. The chapter highlights the works of the most important German-speaking scholars active in Qumran research and some methodological developments and insights achieved in the first 40 years of discussion and after the full release of the Qumran fragments in 1991. Keywords:biblical scholarship; Christianity; Germany; New Testament; Qumran