The occasion of the fiftieth and sixtieth anniversaries of the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls called forth numerous academic conferences and survey volumes attempts to articulate and synthesize the wide ranging importance and influence of this discovery for the study of the Hebrew Bible, Second Temple Judaism, New Testament, Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha, Septuagint, Hebrew and Aramaic linguistics, and still more related fields of scholarship. The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls has also played a role, both directly and indirectly, in the Jewish-Christian dialogue as it has developed in the post-World War II era. In this chapter, the author suggests that one can see different ways in which the scrolls have had an impact on Jewish-Christian relations: (1) on the academic study of early Judaism and early Christianity; (2) on statements from Jewish-Christian dialogue; and (3) on personal relationships.
Keywords: Dead Sea Scrolls; early Christianity; early Judaism; Jewish-Christian Relations