Public Lecture - Mind the Gap! The Scribal Presentation of the War Rule (1QM)

Please join us for Si Walsh's public lecture, "MIND THE GAP! The Scribal Presentation of the War Rule (1QM)" at 17:00 IDT | 10:00 EDT on Sept 17, 2025 at the Albright or on Zoom. Post-Event Reception at 18:00 IDT.

Zoom ID: 819 0831 9517
Passcode: 340449
Zoom Link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81908319517?pwd=OBpQt8IK7CIrKBF6J4X4ZP5q1sQloa.1


Abstract: For nearly eighty years, the War Rule has been an enigma. It is widely agreed that its principal subject is the “War of the Sons of Light,” yet scholars remain deeply divided over what it actually prescribes. Blame for this impasse has fallen on the scribe—accused of caprice and carelessness across a putative long redactional history—while the actual scribal presentation of the Rule (its section spacing, headings, lists etc.) has been largely overlooked. The irony? When read in accord with its formal presentation, a coherent theme and unified form come into sharper focus, suggesting the true culprit of the confusion is not the ancient scribe, but the abiding assumptions of modern scholars.

Bio: Si Walsh fell down the rabbit hole of Dead Sea Scrolls research after classes with Prof. Loren Stuckenbruck and never escaped. Now a Cambridge doctoral candidate and Albright Associate Fellow, he is studying the War Rule’s genre, notably in light of its scribal presentation and Hellenistic influences. When not wrestling scrolls, he is found playing guitar or advising CORSOC in Colombia’s jungles.

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