Millsaps associate professor James E. Bowley has studied over 10,000 fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls, some smaller than a postage stamp. Examining the tiny fragments, which offer details of literature and daily life of an ancient Jewish community, led him to consider the fragments of modern-day life.
This is the inspiration of his free, public lecture, “Living by Fragments,” on Wednesday, October 21 at 4 p.m. in room 215 of the Ford Academic Complex. Bowley delivers the lecture as the 2009 recipient of the Humanities Teacher Award by the Mississippi Humanities Council.
As one of the world’s leading scholars on the Dead Sea Scrolls, Bowley has spent a majority of his professional life cataloging the ancient manuscripts as a joint editor of The Dead Sea Scroll Concordance. The Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered between 1947 and 1956 in 11 caves around the Dead Sea and give glimpses into a Jewish community from 200 BCE through 50 CE.
“Looking at the fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls has made me think about the way we look at life by fragments today,” Bowley said. “The lecture is not so much about the scrolls but about giving people something interesting and enjoyable to think about which is what the humanities are all about—giving us something to make our lives enjoyable.”
Bowley holds a doctorate degree from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion and is an accomplished scholar of Hebrew biblical and extra-biblical literature. He is the author of the widely-used textbook, Introduction to the Hebrew Bible: A Guided Tour of Israel’s Sacred Library and is currently working on commentaries on Judith and the Prayer of Manasseh, as well as Volume III of The Dead Sea Scroll Concordance.
“Dr. Bowley is widely respected as a strong teacher-scholar with high expectations for his students and a gift for encouraging classroom discussions and delivering unorthodox and engaging lectures,” said David C. Davis, interim vice president and dean of Millsaps College.
Since coming to Millsaps in 2002, Bowley has taught courses related to many aspects of the Bible, ancient Judaism, and Christianity. His classes, such as “Who Speaks For the Gods?,” which looks at ancient prophecy in Babylon, Egypt and Israel, and “God Told Me to Love or Kill You,” about the Crusades and how religious people looked and viewed others in the Middle Ages, encourage students to explore the questions of religion and history in new ways.
The Humanities Teacher Award is given each fall by the Mississippi Humanities Council to a humanities scholar at each of the state’s institutions of higher learning in celebration of Arts and Humanities Month.
