"The Greatest Manuscript Discovery of All Time"

Great Isaiah Scroll
(Dead Sea Scrolls)
Exhibit and Lectures
Tuesday October 4
Cal State Fullerton
Titan Student Union
Pavilion B
9 AM - 7 PM

An exhibit showing a replica of the Great Isaiah Scroll, one of the complete manuscripts that makes up the biblical Dead Sea Scrolls, will be showcased Tuesday with accompanying lectures at Titan Student Union Pavilion B.

The scroll on display is a facsimile, or replica, of the Great Isaiah Scroll, which was written about 2,100 years ago and was discovered by Bedouin shepherds in 1947.

“The discovery of the (scrolls) is considered the greatest manuscript discovery of modern times,” said Benjamin Hubbard, Ph.D., professor emeritus of comparative religion. “The scrolls help scholars understand Judaism in the centuries just before the advent of Christianity and early Christianity.”

Throughout the event, lectures will be given by experts on the subject. Speakers include Hubbard, George Giacumakis, Ph.D., emeritus director of CSUF Irvine campus, James Rietveld, Ph.D., lecturer of comparative religion and history, and Scott Moffatt, senior pastor of Legacy Church and CSUF alumnus.

The exhibit is sponsored by the Comparative Religion Student Association (CRSA) and is funded by the Humanities & Social Sciences InterClub Council.

“We requested the scrolls be brought to CSUF to give the students and the community something to be excited about,” said Trish Gabel, a comparative religion major and CRSA treasurer/secretary.

The facsimile scroll is owned by Legacy Church Orange County and is on loan from the Museum of Biblical and Sacred Writings in Irvine, where Giacumakis is director. The replica is approximately 24 feet long.

“We couldn’t have it on display, given its size, for an extended period of time, so we came up with the idea to make it a day event,” said Paul Levesque, Ph.D., Comparative Religion Department chair and associate professor. “Even though it’s a facsimile, it is still an exact replica; it’s faster to come in contact with than going to Jerusalem, and easier to understand the history of the scroll and how it has affected scholarship on Judaism and Christianity both.”

Lectures will range in subject matter from the relationship between the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Gospel of John, to the politics of the scrolls.

“There is most definitely something of interest for everybody,” said Lupe Ojeda, CRSA president and a religious studies and music double major. “The religion student will find how the writings in the scrolls correlate to the scriptures and learn of the peoples that studied them. The sociology student will find interesting the peoples of the time the scrolls were written, as well as those that found them and their motivations.”

The event will run from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. and will be free and open to the public.

By Yvette Quintero
Miss Quintero is a writer for the Daily Titan.