bible and the scrolls
...ved in the desert separate from mainstream society. Pieces of these ancient scrolls,discovered in 1947 by a shepherd, are on display in Sydney as part of the Olympic Arts Festival. Their discovery is labelled the most significant archeological find of all time. ``Nothing compares to the scrolls,'' according to Professor Lawrence Schiffman, one of 60 scholars working to publish the scrolls in their entirety. Professor Schiffman is in Australia with other experts, including the editor-in-chief of the Publication Project, Professor Emanuel Tov, for the opening of the exhibition at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. The significance of the scrolls, Professor Schiffman says, is in what they add to our understanding of early Judaism and Christianity. Everyone seems to be fascinated by accounts of the search for hidden treasure and lost secrets, and the effort to expose conspiracies, as some of the higher-numbered channels on our television sets have discovered. The story of the finding and study of the Dead Sea Scrolls carries some of that kind of interest. Discovered initially in 1947 by a Bedouin shepherd boy exploring a cave in the bluffs along the west...