Dead Sea Scrolls
Religious Studies 303
Saint Martin's College
Main Campus
Spring 2006
Take-home Final Exam

RLS 303B:  The Dead Sea Scrolls
Take-home Final Exam
Spring 2006

Respond to two of the following six questions with an essay of one-and-a-half to two pages each.  Be sure to indicate quotations and to document quotations and ideas derived from other sources with a brief parenthetical note.  The test is open-book, open-note, and you may judiciously draw upon your books and notes in your discussion, but be sure that your final product is your own work.  You may discuss the test with anyone prior to taking it, but do not discuss it with anyone while taking it.  Remember to demonstrate on the test what you have learned by reading and through participation in the class.  The test is due Tuesday, May 9 at 5:00 PM under the professor’s office door.

1. What do we learn about the lives of ordinary people (particularly women) from the Babatha documents found in the Cave of Letters?  How does that information contrast to the Scrolls found at Qumran?
2. Discuss the role of the Temple (and “temples”) in the Scrolls.  What do the attitudes toward the Temple tell us about the people who produced or collected the Scrolls?
3. Compare and contrast the community life reflected in the Scrolls to the life of a Benedictine monastery – or other monastic groups?
4. How do discoveries like the Scrolls and the Gospel of Judas affect our understanding of the Bible?
5. How would you explain the significance of the Scrolls to a friend or relative who would be about to visit the Scrolls exhibit at the Pacific Science Center this fall?
6. How has the class changed your understanding of the Scrolls, and archaeology in general?

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