The Dead Sea Scrolls will be the topic of a special class at DePaul University's School for New Learning (SNL) that will be offered in conjunction with an exhibition at the Field Museum of Natural History. The museum exhibit along with a series of lectures sponsored by the museum will comprise the core of the spring semester course in SNL, which is geared specifically to adult students.

     "This course will help unlock some of the mystery and controversy surrounding the Dead Sea Scrolls," said Susanne Dumbleton, dean of SNL. "By working with the Field Museum, students will be able to use the actual scrolls in the learning process. It is an unmatched opportunity for our students and the type of innovative course that makes SNL unique."

     Considered by many scholars as the most important archeological discovery of the 20th century, the Dead Sea Scrolls were secreted away in caves by a Jewish sect nearly two thousand years ago. It was not until the late 1940s that they were inadvertently discovered. The scrolls provide a significant understanding of Jewish beliefs and practices in the last two centuries before Christianity, and are deemed equally important for deciding questions about the early followers of Jesus. The discovery of the scrolls also gives considerable insight into the development of both the Jewish and Christian biblical canons.

     The class, which begins April 2nd and runs though June 4th, will meet on Sundays at either DePaul's downtown campus or the museum, during its Sunday symposia series. Students will explore the various avenues of inquiry opened to scholarship since the full public release of the scrolls in 1991. Topics will include such things as the archeological site at Qumran where the scrolls were found, the scrolls' relationship to Judaism and early Christianity, and the theology and apocalyptic expectations of the community that composed and utilized the scrolls.

     Students enthusiastically responded to the course offering by filling it immediately after it was opened.

     Jim Barron, who is an expert in biblical and comparative literature, will teach the course. Barron currently offers classes in the historical foundations of the arts, world religions and world literature at the Chicago Academy of the Arts. He also teaches a course in Soviet culture for SNL.

     SNL was created in 1972 and is one of the first programs in the nation to serve adult students exclusively through a separate college. The average SNL student at DePaul is a 36-year-old woman who works full-time and takes classes part-time. The Field Museum partnered with DePaul last year to offer students a similar course based on the museum's Sounds from the Vault exhibition. That interactive exhibit examined ancient musical instruments that had been tucked away for decades in the museum's vault.

     "Partnerships between DePaul and other institutions in Chicago are enabling SNL to offer enriched programs to adult students," said Edward Pryor, SNL's assistant dean for collaboration.