New Developments in Dead Sea Scrolls Research

Here's a link to a popular article about research on textiles recovered from Qumran, the site of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

It seems the Qumranites dressed exclusively in white linen, just like Josephus' descriptions of the Essenes.

The article exaggerates, in my opinion, the amount of debate about the identity of the authors of the Dead Sea Scrolls.  The majority of scholars have been convinced that they were Essenes almost since their initial discovery, although there have always been a few dissenting voices that have gotten more press coverage than their theories necessarily merit.

The idea of the Qumran site having been a fortress is not new: however, it was not built with defensive fortifications, and there is little in the area that the vicinity that the Romans would have been interested in defending (for example, see this article).

There are many lines of evidence that converge to identify the Qumran community as an Essene settlement.  This latest contribution of data from textile studies is a welcome confirmation of what most Qumran scholars have already believed.

"Semper Paratus!": The Readings for the First Sunday of Advent

The last month of the liturgical year was spent reflecting on the Last Things, culminating in the Feast of Christ the King last week, when we pondered the Final Judgment, the separation of the “sheep” and the “goats.”

There is actually a fairly smooth transition from the end of the liturgical year to its beginning, because the first week of Advent is spent meditating not on the First Coming of Christ, but on his Second. By next week, the perspective will shift, and the liturgy will anticipate the coming celebration of the incarnation.

In any event, although it is a new liturgical year this week, the end-times focus of previous weeks continues:

Faithfulness in the Small Matters: The Readings for the 33d Sunday in Ordinary Time

St. Josemaría Escrivà, the founder of the personal prelature Opus Dei, has often been called the “saint of the ordinary” for the emphasis he placed on achieving holiness in every-day living.


In fact, one of his most famous sermons was entitled “The Richness of Ordinary Life.”


St. Josemaría once said he could tell a great deal about a man’s interior life by looking at his closet. Good order in one’s soul is often reflected by good order in one’s lifestyle. A man who is sloppy or inattentive in the care of his personal effects will often likewise be careless in his life of prayer.


The Readings for this Lord’s Day focus on the theme of fidelity to the seemingly small matters that God places in our care.

The Successor of Peter and Biblical Interpretation

The Chair of Peter in the Basilica of St. John Lateran

Some months ago on this blog, we had a discussion about the role of the Papacy in the Church and specifically with respect to the interpretation of Scripture. 

I keep coming back to the Pope's homily upon assuming the Chair of Peter in St. John Lateran (7 May 2005).

(St. John Lateran is, of course, the Cathedral of Rome--not St. Peter's in the Vatican.  St. John Lateran is the official church of the Bishop of Rome, and thus considered the mother church of Christianity.  This church has it's own feast day, which we celebrated yesterday.  When a new pope assumes the Chair of Peter in St. John Lateran, it marks the beginning of his tenure as Bishop of the Diocese of Rome.)

In this homily, the Pope pointedly addresses the issue of Scriptural interpretation, and his own role in it.

I quote here the most relevant paragraphs for reflection:

Great Time at the Shrine

Shrine Director Leif Arvidson with Drs. Hahn & Bergsma

Dr. Hahn and I had the pleasure of visiting and speaking at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse, Wisconsin, this weekend.  A crowd of 400 came out to make the Marian pilgrimage, and hear talks on Confession and Eucharist, and receive those very sacraments.  The Shrine, built by the people of the Diocese of La Crosse under the leadership of now-Cardinal Raymond Burke, is a hidden treasure of Catholicism in the Midwest.  Extraordinarily beautiful, the shrine church and its grounds were designed with the help of Duncan Stroik, the expert in ecclesiastical architecture from the Architecture School of the University of Notre Dame. (He's also godfather of several Bergsma children, but that's another story!) If you ever find yourself in Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, the Shrine is well worth a day's visit!

Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, with Monastery of the Franciscans of the Immaculate, overlooking La Crosse, Wisconsin

Off Topic: Steve Jobs' Last Words

Oh Wow! Oh Wow! Oh Wow!

Click here for story.


Does it mean anything?