The Dynamics of Dream-Vision Revelation in the Aramaic Dead Sea Scrolls (Journal of Ancient Judaism Supplements, 19)

This study maps out the compositional patterns and exegetical, priestly, and historiographical applications of dream-visions in a constellation of twenty-nine Second Temple period writings among the Aramaic Dead Sea Scrolls.



Andrew B. Perrin contributes to the ongoing debate over whether the Aramaic texts among the Dead Sea Scrolls are a cohesive corpus or accidental anthology. Paramount among the literary topoi that hint at an inherent unity is the pervasive usage of the dream-vision in a constellation of at least twenty writings. The author demonstrates that the literary convention of the dream-vision was employed for scriptural exegesis, to endorse particular understandings of the origins and functions of the priesthood, and as an ex eventu historiographical mechanism for revealing aspects or all of world history.