Download or read book The Essenes, the Scrolls, and the Dead Sea written by Joan E. Taylor and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2012-11-15 with total page 439 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The mystery surrounding the Dead Sea Scrolls remains, over 60 years after their rediscovery. Who hid them and why? This groundbreaking book reinvigorates the contested hypothesis that the Essenes were responsible. Rather than being a marginal esoteric sect, Taylor shows that this group acted as one of the leading legal schools of Judaism.