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Now on YouTube:
Robert Eisenman's Dead Sea Scrolls lectures and several other courses now on YouTube - Eisenman Lecture
Interviews at the site of Qumran in Israel - Eisenman on the rocks
An assortment of Eisenman's talks and appearances to a variety of groups at Eisenman Talks
New: Eisenmanity: Robert Eisenman before non-Christian groups, etc.Robert Eisenman is the author of The New Testament Code: The Cup of the Lord, the Damascus Covenant, and the Blood of Christ (2006), James the Brother of Jesus: The Key to Unlocking the Secrets of Early Christianity and the Dead Sea Scrolls (1998), The Dead Sea Scrolls and the First Christians (1996), Islamic Law in Palestine and Israel: A History of the Survival of Tanzimat and Shari'ah (1978), and co-editor of The Facsimile Edition of the Dead Sea Scrolls (1989) and The Dead Sea Scrolls Uncovered (1992).
He is Professor of Middle East Religions and Archaeology and Islamic Law and the Director of the Institute for the Study of Judeo-Christian Origins at California State University Long Beach and Visiting Senior Member of Linacre College, Oxford. He holds a B.A. from Cornell University in Philosophy and Engineering Physics (1958), an M.A. from New York University in Near Eastern Studies (1966), and a Ph.D from Columbia University in Middle East Languages and Cultures and Islamic Law (1971). He was a Senior Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Postgraduate Hebrew Studies and an American Endowment for the Humanities Fellow-in-Residence at the Albright Institute of Archaeological Research in Jerusalem, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were first examined.
In 1991-92, he was the Consultant to the Huntington Library in San Marino, California on its decision to open its archives and allow free access for all scholars to the previously unpublished Scrolls. In 2002, he was the first to publicly announce that the so-called 'James Ossuary', which so suddenly and 'miraculously' appeared, was fraudulent; and he did this on the very same day it was made public on the basis of the actual inscription itself and what it said without any 'scientific' or 'pseudo-scientific' aids.
Books
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The New Testament Code: The Cup of the Lord, the
Damascus Covenant, and the Blood of Christ. Barnes
and Noble, 2006. "Eisenman uncovers the Truth and unravels the
real code behind New Testament allusions like
'this is the Cup of the New Covenant in my
blood,' connecting them to 'the New
Covenant in the Land of Damascus' and
'drinking the Cup of the Wrath of God' in
the Dead Sea Scrolls. In doing so, Eisenman
demonstrates the integral relationship of James the
Brother of Jesus to the Righteous Teacher of the Dead
Sea Scrolls, deciphers the way the picture of
'Jesus' was put together in the Gospels,
and clarifies the real history of Palestine in the
First Century and, as a consequence, what can be known
about the real 'Jesus'. In paring away the
traces of Greco-Roman anti-Semitism - which were
deliberately introduced into this picture,
thereby tainting Western history ever
since - The New Testament Code shows what
really happened in Palestine in that time, not what the
enemies of those making war against Rome wanted people
to think happened." |
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James the Brother of Jesus: The Key to Unlocking
the Secrets of Early Christianity and the Dead Sea
Scrolls. Penguin, 1998. "In a profound and provocative work of scholarly detection, Eisenman establishes James - a figure almost entirely marginalized in the New Testament - as the leader of all opposition groups in the Jerusalem of his day and the spiritual heir to his famous brother Jesus. James, not Peter, was the true successor to the movement we now call Christianity. Once we have found the Historical James we have found the Historical Jesus. "Drawing on the Dead Sea Scrolls and on long overlooked early Christian texts, Eisenman reveals in this groundbreaking major exploration the Christianity of Paul as a distortion of what James preached." |
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The Dead Sea Scrolls and the First
Christians. Harper Collins, 1996. The Dead Sea Scrolls Uncovered: The First
Complete Translation and Interpretation of 50 Key
Documents Withheld For Over 35 Years (with Michael
Wise). Penguin, 1992. A Facsimile Edition of the Dead Sea Scrolls (with James Robinson). Biblical Archaeology Society, 1991. * James the Just in the Habakkuk Pesher. E.J. Brill Leiden, 1986. * Maccabees, Zadokites, Christians and Qumran: A New Hypothesis of Qumran Origins. E.J. Brill, Leiden, 1984. Islamic Law in Palestine and Israel. E.J. Brill, Leiden, 1976. * Reprinted in The Dead Sea Scrolls and the First Christians. Harper Collins, 1996. |
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His most recent book, The New Jerusalem: A Millenium Poetic/Prophetic Travel Diario (1959-1962), North Atlantic Books, 2007, is a collection of his youthful travel poems from 1959-62 when Paris was still 'a moveable feast' and when he was 'on the road' between Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Israel, Iran, Beleuchistan, Pakistan, and India. Includes an Afterward on the Six-Day War, April-June, 1967. "Eisenman...reveals an unexpectedly lyrical voice in this collection of poems, written between 1959 and 1962 on the overland trail to India via Paris (when it was still 'a Moveable Feast'), Israel, Turkey, Iran, and Pakistan. A backpacker's journal in free verse - which can be looked upon as an 'anti-Beat Manifesto' and even includes some 'quasi-prophecy' - The New Jerusalem not only starts out in San Francisco, but is also an intimate self-portrait of a young man at a turning point in his spiritual development." |
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Articles
Sicarii Essenes, "Those of the Circumcision", and Qumran, The Journal of Higher Criticism, vol. 12, no. 1, Spring 2006.
"'Ad,' 'Thamud,' 'Hud,' and 'Salih' as Reflecting Edessene/Northern Syrian Conversion Stories about 'Thomas,' 'Addai'/'Thaddaeus', 'Yehudah' ( 'Judas Thomas'/'Judas the Zealot'/'Judas Barsabas' ), and James." Journal of Higher Criticism, Fall 2005.
MMT as Jamesian Letter to "The Great King of the Peoples Beyond the Euphrates", The Journal of Higher Criticism vol. 11, no.1, Spring 2005.
Northern Syria as an Area for Many Language References at Qumran, paper presented at the International Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature, Denver, 2005.
An Esoteric Relation between Qumran's "New Covenant in the Land of Damascus" and the New Testament's "Cup of the New Covenant in (His) Blood"? Revue de Qumran, vol. 21, no. 83, March 2004.
Redating the Radiocarbon Dating of the Dead Sea Scrolls, Dead Sea Discoveries, 11,2 (2004).
The James Ossuary: Is It Authentic? Folia Orientalia, vol. 38, 2002.
"Re-erecting the Fallen Tent of David" in a Land "North" of Damascus at Qumran and in Acts' "Jerusalem Council". Paper presented at SBL, Rome 2001.
The 1988-92 California State University Dead Sea Walking Cave Survey and Radar Groundscan of the Qumran Cliffs, The Qumran Chronicle, vol. 9, no. 2, December 2000.
A Ground-Penetrating Radar Testing the Claim for Earthquake Damage of the Second Temple Ruins at Khirbet Qumran, Qumran Chronicle, December 2000. With Michael Baigent.
* The Final Proof that James and the Righteous Teacher are the Same. Paper presented at the Society of Biblical Literature in 1994.
The Theory of Judeo-Christian Origins: The Last Column of the Damascus Document, in Methods of Investigation of the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Khirbet Qumran Site: Present Realities and Future Prospects, ed. by Wise, M. O., Golb, N., Collins, J., and Pardee, D., Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, v. 722, 1994.
The 1990 Survey of Qumran Caves, The Qumran Chronicle, vol. 2, no.1, December 1992.
The Sociology of MMT and the Conversions of King Agbarus and Queen Helen of Adiabene. Paper presented at SBL conference, 1992.
* Joining/Joiners, 'Arizei-Go'im, and the Simple of Ephraim Relating to a Cadre of Gentile God-Fearers at Qumran. Paper presented at the Society of Biblical Literature in 1991.
A Response to Schiffman on MMT, The Qumran Chronicle 1990/91, no. 2/3.
* Eschatological "Rain" Imagery in the War Scroll from Qumran and in the Letter of James, Journal of Near Eastern Studies, vol. 49 no. 2 1990.
* Interpreting 'Abeit Galuto in the Habakkuk Pesher: Playing on and Transmuting Words, Folia Orientalia, vol. 26, 1989. Presented at Groningen Conference in Holland in 1989.
* Interpreting some Esotericisms: The King of the Peoples, the Princes of Judah and Gehazi in the Damascus Document. Paper given to the Society of Biblical Literature in 1989.
The Historical Provenance of the "Three Nets of Belial" Allusion in the Zadokite Document and Balla'/Bela' in the Temple Scroll, Folia Orientalia, volume 25, 1988. (First given as an NEH Fellow at the Albright Institute for Archaeological Research in Jerusalem in a Joint Session with the Ecole Biblique in November, 1985.)
* The Jerusalem Community of James the Just and the Community at Qumran. Paper given at Mogilany Conference in Poland, 1987.
* Paul as Herodian. Paper given at Society of Biblical Literature conference in 1984; published in the Journal of Higher Criticism, Vol. 3, Spring 1996, pp. 110-122.
Confusions of Pharisees and Essenes in Josephus. Presented at the Society of Biblical Literature in 1981.
The Zaddik-Idea and the Zadokite Priesthood. Presented at the Society of Biblical Literature in 1979.
The Young Turk Legislation, 1913-17 and its Application in Palestine/Israel, in Palestine in the Late Ottoman Period, ed. by D. Kushner, E.J. Brill Leiden, 1978.
Making Sense of Hegesippus' Testimony to James as High Priest. Presented at the Society of Biblical Literature in 1978.
James the Just as Righteous Teacher. Paper presented at the Society of Biblical Literature in 1976.
* Reprinted in The Dead Sea Scrolls and the First Christians. Harper Collins, 1996.
Opinion
The Greatest Heritage Site of All: We Know how to Commemorate the Dead but Do We Know How to Commemorate the Living? (A Proposal for an International Architectural Competition to Provide Solutions to the Issue of the Temple Mount), The Jerusalem Post, March 14, 2010.
Remember, the Temple was built by Herod, The Jerusalem Post, 2009.
Redemonizing Judas: Gospel Fiction or Gospel Truth? The Huffington Post, September 13, 2009.
Gospel Fiction and the Redemonization of Judas, The Huffington Post, December 19, 2007.
Digging on the Temple Mount: A Modest Proposal, The Jerusalem Post, September 16, 2007.
Christiane Amanpur's God's Warriors, "the Jews", and the "Occupied Territories" - Is This For Real?, The Jerusalem Post, August 27, 2007.
The Jesus Tomb: Primeval Stupidity, The Huffington Post, March 8, 2007.
Rehabilitating Judas Iscariot, The Huffington Post, January 23, 2006.
Fisk is Wrong on the West Bank, January 18, 2006.
A Discovery That's Just Too Perfect, Los Angeles Times, October 29, 2002.
New Borders: The Dismemberment of Iraq, Jewish Forward, 1992
The Dismissal of Strugnell as Editor of the Scrolls and the Behaviors of the IAA, Unpublished, 1992.
The Desecration of the Scrolls, Midstream Magazine, Dec. 1991.
The Meaning of 'Dead Lands', Manchester Guardian, March 22, 1981.
How the West Bank Views Terrorism, Midstream, 1973.
Interviews
The Riddle of the Scrolls, Vanity Fair, Nov. 1992.
Eisenman Teaches "Objective Religion," The University Bulletin, ca. 1975.