Friday, March 25, 2005

Two Weeks of Light Blogging

Our two-week spring break is about to begin, so there will be no more seminars for a while. When I'm around (I'll be out of town for the first part of next week) I'll keep an eye on the news for Qumran-related stories. If I see any that look interesting, I'll blog on them. If not, I won't. The big event scheduled during the break is the publication of a guest lecture by Dr. Maxine Grossman on her postmodern literary-critical approach to the Dead Sea Scrolls. Look for this in the first few days of April.

Here's a little tidbit on the popular culture front. It appears that the Scrolls are a symbol for a particularly weighty tome. This account in the Times Herald-Record, NY of a local trial of the mayor and other town officials contains this curious exchange:
One time, the defense tried to put the city charter in evidence: "How big is it?" [Judge] Rosenwasser asked. "Is it the Dead Sea Scrolls?"

Best wishes for the holidays.