One student of the Scrolls notes this new evidence:

"An obscurity in (our) standard text, due to the confusion of two words of similar appearance, has been cleared up in Isaiah 21:8. "And the cried, a lion" makes no sense at all. "And the seer cried" suits the context perfectly. The letters 'RYH (lion) are a scrib's mistake for HR'H (the seer)."

Shortly after the first scrolls were found, some charged that the manuscripts were medieval, not of the Christian era. Skeptics felt that it was impossible for the scrolls to have survived through the centuries in a Palestinian cave. Others said that they were complete fakes, imported from outside and designed to hoodwink enthusiastic archeologists.

Later investigation thoroughly refuted these charges. De Vaux and Harding first thought the Qumran ruins were simply an insignificant Roman fortress. Further digging disclosed, however, remains of a "monastery", complete with a fifteen-foot tower which was still standing. Its walls were forty feet square and five feet thick. The rest of the building consisted of courts, passages, a scriptorium, and many other rooms. Coins found definitely dated the building, and pottery linked the building with the caves. This provided final proof of the Scrolls' authenticity.

Why were the Scrolls stored away from the building? Scholars theorized that the Essenes thought their most valuable possession, their library, was safe from Roman attack only if it was well hidden. Adequate verification of an invasion came when a coin, bearing the surcharge of the Tenth Legion, was found inside the building. The Legion swept down the Jordan Valley in 68 A.D. on its way to the seige of Jerusalem. Clearly it was anticipated by the Essenes, and the Scrolls were secreted away.

Students of the period note that first century authors--Pliny the Elder, Philo and Jesephus,--describe the Essenes in terms which well fit the Qumran community. Archeologists believe that the settlement was the center of Essene life. The people probably lived communally while establishing their great library, and apparently washed, or were baptized daily, as evidenced by many aquaducts and a lavatory which were unearthed in the excavation. Their leader was a prophet, "The Teacher of Righteousness."

The Essenes' effect on current New Testament scholarship centers on parallels between their beliefs and the tenets of later Christians. There were, of course, no Christian writings in the Essene library. New Testament books written slightly later, however, bear astonishing resemblance to the Essene "non-Biblical writings."

Most outspoken in asserting the Essene-Christianity link is Manchester's Allegro, who currently is presenting a weekly series of BBC talks on his conclusions. He said two weeks ago that the historical basis of the Last Supper and part, at least, of both the Lord's Prayer and the New Testament teaching of Jesus can be attributed to the Qumran sect. "The Teacher of Righteousness", he said, "was persecuted and probably crucified by Gentiles at the instigation of a wicked priest of the Jews." Allegro, himself a philologist, claimed that the similarity had caused "a minor revolution in New Testament scholarship."

Allegro believes that the sect was conscious of a sense of nervous excitement when "outrage succeeded outrage, blasphemy and idolatry sat insolently in high places, and even the high priest of Israel defiled the sanctity of God with his presence." The Essenes, he asserted, looked forward to a blessed release and the return of its priestly "Teacher of Righteousness."

Many scholars, admittedly without the information Allegro has in his possession, would hesitate to make such sweeping generalizations. The Very Rev. John J. Dougherty, Immaculate conception Seminary, Darlington, New Jersey, has warned that it is far too early "to pontificate on the precise meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls on specific scientific questions, particularly questions of a historical character."

Dougherty is highly critical of Edmund Wilson's New Yorker article on the Scrolls which appeared on May 14, 1955. "He has taken one hypothetical interpretation, dressed it up in exciting diction, and presented it to those who can read but not evaluate. That is mischief. Dupont-Sommer's (a professor at the Sorbonne) sensational and unproved thesis, adopted by Wilson, was that the Qumran documents revealed an anticipation of Christianity in the sect of the Essenes."

A middle-of-the-road Christian might summarize the Scrolls' significance in cooler terms:

1) The foundations of Christianity will hardly be shaken by the disclosure of an earlier Jewish sect's similarities to Christianity. Christians shared common Old Testament tradition with the Qumran sect. Similarities may, in fact, indicate acceptance by the later Christians of some of the Essene beliefs. Christianity has never claimed discontinuity with the antecedent Judaism.

2) Christianity's uniqueness lies, rather in its belief that Jesus was the awaited Messiah; that he was not overcome by death, but continued to be present among his followers in the power of spirit.

3) The parallels between Jesus and the "Teacher of Righteousness" are not as shattering to modern Christian belief as outspoken investigators have asserted. The differences are clearly radical. The "Teacher of Righteousness" did not claim to be the son of God. His martyrdom was not voluntary. There is no claim of vicarious death for the sins of men