The Dead Sea Scrolls have been the object of intense interest in recent years, not least because of previously unpublished texts from Qumran Cave 4 since the autumn of 1991. With the wealth of new documents that have come to light, the field of Qumran studies has undergone a renaissance. Scholars have begun to question the established conclusions of the last generation; some widely held beliefs have withstood scrutiny, but others have required revision or even dismissal. New proposals and competing hypotheses, many of them of an uncritical and sensational nature, vie for attention. The opportunity is ripe therefore for directing renewed attention to the task of analysis and interpretation.
