Dead Sea Scrolls - Qumran Library

The scrolls and scroll fragments recovered in the Qumran environs represent a voluminous body of Jewish documents, a veritable "library", dating from the third century B.C.E. to 68 C.E. Unquestionably, the "library," which is the greatest manuscript find of the twentieth century, demonstrates the rich literary activity of Second Temple Period Jewry and sheds insight into centuries pivotal to both Judaism and Christianity. The library contains some books or works in a large number of copies, yet others are represented only fragmentarily by mere scraps of parchment. There are tens of thousands of scroll fragments. The number of different compositions represented is almost one thousand, and they are written in three different languages: Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. There is less agreement on the specifics of what the Qumran library contains. Biblical Those works contained in the Hebrew Bible. Apocryphal or pseudepigraphical Sectarian

Nag Hammadi Library The Nag Hammadi Library, a collection of thirteen ancient books (called "codices") containing over fifty texts, was discovered in upper Egypt in 1945. This immensely important discovery includes a large number of primary "Gnostic Gospels" – texts once thought to have been entirely destroyed during the early Christian struggle to define "orthodoxy" – scriptures such as the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Philip, and the Gospel of Truth. The discovery and translation of the Nag Hammadi library, initially completed in the 1970's, has provided impetus to a major re-evaluation of early Christian history and the nature of Gnosticism. For an introduction to the Nag Hammadi discovery and the texts in this ancient library, we offer several resources. When analyzed according to subject matter, there are roughly six separate major categories of writings collected in the Nag Hammadi codices: This leaves a small number of scriptures of the Nag Hammadi Library which may be called "unclassifiable."

Creeds of Christendom Maimonides' 13 Foundations of Judaism Maimonides’ 13 Foundations of Judaism Translated by Marc Mermelstein Due to the vital importance of these principles, as you will read in Maimonides’ closing remark, I wish to make them available for all to read. I thank Marc Mermelstein for his efforts in this translation. These 13 Principles compiled by Maimonides outline Judaism’s tenets, which one must acknowledge as truths in order to be considered a Jew, and to partake in the World to Come. The 13 Foundations of Judaism Principle I. To believe in the existence of the Creator, and this Creator is perfect in all manner of existence. Principle II. Meaning to say to accept that this is the quintessential idea of Oneness. Principle III. This is to accept that this Oneness that we have mentioned above (Principle II) is not a body and has no strength in the body, and has no shape or image or relationship to a body or parts thereof. Principle IV. This is that God existed prior to everything, and exists after everything. Principle V.

Articles of Faith This article, scanned in and unproofed, is from The Jewish Encyclopedia , (NY: Funk and Wagnalls, 19061910), under the editorship of Cyrus Adler. It is now in the public domain. No Fixed Dogmas In the same sense as Christianity or Islam, Judaism can not be credited with the possession of Articles of Faith. Many attempts have indeed been made at systematizing and reducing to a fixed phraseology and sequence the contents of the Jewish religion. But these have always lacked the one essential element: authoritative sanction on the part of a supreme ecclesiastical body. No Need for Creeds in Judaism The remark of Leibnitz, in his preface to the "Essais de Theodicee," that the nations which filled the earth before the establishment of Christianity had ceremonies of devotion, sacrifices, libations, and a priesthood, but that they had no Articles of Faith and no dogmatic theology, applies with slight modification to the Jews. Evolution of Judaism Discussions and Dogmatism Disfavored 1. 2. 3. 4.