Lunch and Learn // The Dead Sea Scrolls Discovery and its Resonance in American Popular Culture
Thursday, February 18, 2027 @ 12:00 pm - 1:15 pm
// a talk by Shalom Goldman, Professor Emeritus of Religion, Middlebury College
Philip K Dick in early 1960s. Arthur Knight (photographer), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
The discovery of Dead Sea Scrolls in the Judean Desert between 1947 and 1952, was one of the great archaeological discoveries of the twentieth century. Found in the cache were fragments of 23 of the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible. Also found was a vast Jewish sectarian literature dated to the final centuries of the pre-Christian era.
Edmund Wilson, circa. 1936. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Once the scrolls and fragments were collated, deciphered, and translated, the scholarly and public interest in them grew — especially in the United States. Goldman’s lecture will survey that scholarly interest and then describe two (very different!) American literary figures who wrote about the Scrolls: literary critic Edmund Wilson and popular culture visionary Philip K Dick.
About Our Speaker
Shalom Goldman is the Pardon Tillinghast Professor Emeritus of Religion at Middlebury College. A scholar of comparative religion, his work focuses on Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and the religious and cultural relationships among the three traditions.
Goldman’s most recent book is From Jews to Muslims: Twentieth-Century Converts to Islam (2024). His other books include God’s Sacred Tongue: Hebrew and the American Imagination (2004), Zeal for Zion: Christians, Jews, and the Idea of the Promised Land (2010), and Starstruck in the Promised Land: How the Arts Shaped American Passions about Israel (2019).
Before coming to Middlebury College, Goldman taught religion and Middle Eastern studies at Duke University, and Hebrew and Middle Eastern studies at Emory University.
Goldman and his spouse, Laurie Patton (who is President of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and former President of Middlebury College), are members of the OZ community. We’re also hoping to welcome Laurie as a Lunch & Learn speaker next year!
— for photo of Dead Sea Scrolls: Portion of the Temple Scroll, labeled 11Q19, one of the longest of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Israel Museum. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
