All definitions © Piatkus Dictionary of Mind, Body & Spirit by Paula Byerly Croxon

Dead Sea Scrolls

Dead Sea Scrolls are a collection of Jewish mystical texts discovered between 1947 and 1953 in the caves above the Jordanian city of Qumran.  

Carbon-dated to the time around the life of Christ (50BC – AD 68), these scrolls revealed the beliefs of the Essenes, a pacifist Messianic sect of Judaism.  The Essene religion mirrors very closely many practices considered to be exclusive to the Bible’s New Testament, leading many to believe that Jesus may have been influenced by their teachings.