The challenge...

Editor, Jewishsightseeing:

The San Diego Natural History Museum has published a detailed description of the planned exhibit on its website. Judging from this description, the exhibit will feature exactly the same omissions and distortions that spoiled the recent Seattle exhibit (see http://pacific-science-scrolls-scandal.blogspot.com/
 for details).

People who feel that this type of exhibit should be balanced and informative, rather than biased towards a small clique of scholars whose conduct has previously led to controversy and scandal, may wish to contact the Museum with questions such as the following:

The Cambridge History of Judaism -- probably the most prestigious existing reference work on this topic -- features articles on the two salient theories of Scroll origins, namely (1) the old Qumran-Essene theory and (2) the Jerusalem-libraries theory which has come to be increasingly supported by the newer generation of scholars.  Why is the Museum planning to conceal the evidence that supports the Jerusalem theory from the public? Why is the Museum's announced roster of lecturers stacked with scholars who support the old Qumran-Essene theory of Scroll origins, without including a single opponent of it?

Why aren't they planning a public debate on the Scrolls controversy, between proponents and opponents of the old theory? Why doesn't their website material include an accurate description of the newer theory that has played a prominent role in research over the past decade? In a word, is the Museum planning to adhere to the principle of scientific neutrality prescribed by the American Association of Museums?
 

Editor, Jewishsightseeing:

A couple of points in response to your reader's critique:

 The "mounting" criticism to which your reader refers amounts to one critique of the Seattle Pacific Science Center's Dead Sea Scrolls Exhibition by Norman Golb, a long standing proponent of the view that completely disconnects the Dead Sea Scrolls from the site of Qumran.  Your reader's letter has taken Golb's criticism of the Seattle show and applied it to what he incorrectly believes will be coming to San Diego.

The Exhibition at the San Diego Natural History Museum (SDNHM) is not in any part related or similar to the Seattle exhibition, other than it being sponsored in part by the Israel Antiquities Authority, the government body in Israel responsible for all national treasures.  The SDNHM exhibition is being created by and exclusively for this museum and as such will not duplicate any previous Dead Sea Scrolls Exhibition to date.

The materials available on the SDNHM web site do not provide anything more than a brief introduction to the scrolls in general.  On that basis, it is quite premature to draw the conclusion that the exhibition is either "biased" or "unbalanced." Noteworthy is the fact that the SDNHM web site text does not refer to the potential authors of the Scrolls as Essenes, a problematic association based on historical sources but not found in the Scrolls themselves. Similarly, the site points to the fact that "many," but not all scholars, associate the Scrolls with the site of Qumran.

The curators, developers and designers of the DSS exhibition are well versed in the variety of theories and hypotheses concerning the interpretation with respect to the relationship of the site of Qumran to the provenance of the Scrolls and have sought in their presentation of the material to present facts based on current scholarly consensus as well as considered analysis of the evidence, including the variety of theories posited by Golb and others. SDNHM is the only Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS) venue in North America to have a full time biblical scholar on its staff and oversee all aspects of this particular exhibition.

A collection of twenty-two world renowned lecturers from different institutions, backgrounds and even nationalities can hardly be referred to as a "small clique" of scholars.  Your reader is also clearly not familiar with the work of the archaeologist Dr. Jean Baptiste Humbert who will be presenting his views on the site of Qumran as part of our series in July 2007 and whose archaeological analysis of Qumran is far from mainstream.

In short your reader has made several premature assumptions based apparently on Golb's critique of an unrelated exhibition at a different venue entirely. He will likely be pleasantly surprised come June 2007.

Some unique points regarding the SDNHM DSS Exhibition:

This is an original exhibition to the SDNHM, not a "traveling" exhibition. It is designed by our own, award-winning staff, and will not go to any other Museum after it closes here.
*         The SDNHM Dead Sea Scrolls exhibition is the only exhibition of scrolls that shows the transmission of the biblical texts through time. This will be demonstrated with manuscripts and scrolls from Jordan, Ethiopia, the British Library, the Russian National Library, and the St. John's University Bible Project. Many of these materials have never been displayed outside their own country.
*         SDNHM is the only venue to have a six-month-long exhibition and two sets of scrolls (12 in July-September; 12 others in October-December). The scrolls are only allowed out of Israel for three months at a time.
*         Of the museums hosting the scrolls, SDNHM is the only museum that has its own curator for the exhibition. As a Dead Sea Scrolls scholar and professor of religious studies at SDSU, I am fortunate to have been selected for that position.
*         Our team of Dead Sea Scrolls scholars selected the scrolls SDNHM is displaying. 100% of the scrolls  requested were granted to SDNHM. These scrolls are different than the scrolls that have been displayed at other museums; ten of them are being displayed for the first time.
*         Some of the scrolls SDNHM is featuring are the very same scrolls that are being studied by the lecturers who are speaking in our Distinguished Lecturer Series.
*         SDNHM is the first museum to have the actual Copper Scroll from Jordan. Until now, this scroll was not permitted to be displayed outside of Jordan or with the Dead Sea Scrolls.
*         This exhibition will feature the science of the scrolls, including the excavation process, restoration and preservation of the scrolls, DNA, Carbon-14 dating, digital imaging and more.
*         A fine-art landscape photography exhibition will feature photos by Israeli photographers; this exhibition will foster a sense of place for Israel and its deep cultural history. Additional photos will highlight the similarities in terrain, habitat, and Mediterranean climate between Israel and San Diego County.
*         In our giant-screen theater we will feature a virtual-reality "walk" through the Qumran community settlement; this tour is being developed by a doctoral candidate from UCLA.
*         Audio tours, available in English and Spanish, will be included in the price of admission.

Dr. Risa Levitt Kohn
Curator, Dead Sea Scrolls Exhibition
San Diego Natural History Museum