Includes bibliographical references (p. 424-456) and indexes.

Introduction: The Qumran scrolls and rabbinic Judaism -- The scholarly controversy. The many "battles of the scrolls" -- Literary genres and languages of the Judean scrolls -- Halakhah and history : the contribution of the Dead Sea scrolls to recent scholarship -- History, politics, and the formation of the sect. Community without temple : the Qumran community's withdrawal from the Jerusalem Temple -- Political leadership and organization in the Dead Sea scrolls community -- The new halakhic letter (4QMMT) and the origins of the Dead Sea sect -- The place of 4QMMT in the corpus of Qumran manuscripts -- Jewish law at Qumran. Legal texts in the Dead Sea scrolls -- Codification of Jewish law in the Dead Sea scrolls -- Pre-Maccabean halakhah in the Dead Sea scrolls and the biblical tradition -- Contemporizing halakhic exegesis in the Dead Sea scrolls -- Halakhic elements in 4QInstruction -- Religious outlook of the Qumran sectarians. The early history of Jewish liturgy and the Dead Sea scrolls -- The concept of covenant in the Qumran scrolls and rabbinic literature -- Holiness and sanctity in the Dead Sea scrolls -- Messianic figures and ideas in the Qumran scrolls -- The concept of restoration in the Dead Sea scrolls -- Jeruslame in the Dead Sea scrolls -- Qumran sectarians and others. The Pharisees and their legal traditions according to the Dead Sea scrolls -- Pharisees and Sadducees in Pesher Nahum -- Inter- or intra-Jewish conflict? : the Judaism of the Dead Sea scrolls community and its opponents -- Non-Jews in the Dead Sea scrolls -- Language and literature. Pseudepigrapha in the Pseudepigrapha : mythical books in Second Temple literature -- Second Temple literature and the Cairo Genizah -- Inverting reality : the Dead Sea scrolls in the popular media.