It was a different Today in 1994 when the first edition appeared, and Vanderkam (Hebrew scriptures, U. of Notre Dame) has updated his reference to account for the complete publication of the documents and fragments, subsequent discoveries and thinking about them, recent historical work on the period and people that produced them, and changing ideas about deciphering the manuscripts and translating the texts. His basic goal and format remain, providing a broad handbook on the discoveries at Qumran, a survey of the manuscripts, the identification of the Qumran group, the Qumran Essenes, how the scrolls relate to the Old and New Testaments, and controversies about editing and publishing. Annotation 2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
