John C. Trever

John C. Trever (November 26, 1916 – April 29, 2006) was a Biblical scholar and archaeologist, who was involved in the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls.[1]

John C. Trever
Born(1916-11-26)November 26, 1916
DiedApril 29, 2006(2006-04-29) (aged 89)
Lake Forest, California, California[1]
Occupationbiblical scholar and archaeologist
Known forinvolvement in the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls
Spouse(s)Elizabeth Trever
Children2
Academic background
EducationYale Divinity School
Alma materYale Graduate School (PhD)
Academic work
DisciplineOld Testament studies
Notable worksThe Untold Story of Qumran (1965)

Education

Trever received a degree (B.D.) from Yale Divinity School and a Ph.D. in Old Testament studies from Yale Graduate School. He did post-doctoral studies in archaeology through the American School of Oriental Research in Jerusalem.

Career

He became the first American scholar to see fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls in the Spring of 1948. At the time Trever was filling in for Millar Burrows, the director at the American Schools of Oriental Research. He was contacted by a representative of Mar Samuel of St. Mark's Assyrian Orthodox Monastery who desired to authenticate three scrolls that we now know had been purchased from Kando, a Syrian-Christian antiquities dealer in Bethlehem. Trever, an experienced photographer, photographed the scrolls, 1QIsaiahA, 1QpHabukkuk, and 1QS, and immediately sent copies to Near East scholar William F. Albright, who recognized them as the "greatest MS discovery of modern times!”

Trever is the author of "The Untold Story of Qumran" (1965) and "The Dead Sea Scrolls: A Personal Account" (2003). He taught at several colleges: Baldwin-Wallace College in Ohio, Morris Harvey College in West Virginia (the University of Charleston), and Claremont School of Theology in California.

The original negatives are in the collection of the Ancient Biblical Manuscript Center of the Claremont School of Theology in California.[2]

Selected works

Book
  • Trever, John C.; Brownlee, William Hugh; Burrows, Millar, eds. (1950). The Dead Sea Scrolls of St. Mark's monastery. Vol. I, The Isaiah manuscript and the Habakkuk commentary. New Haven, NJ: The American Schools of Oriental Research. OCLC 461196575.
  • ——— (1954). The Problem of Dating the Dead Sea Scrolls. Washington: Smithsonian Institution. OCLC 38486455.
  • ——— (1965). The Untold Story of Qumran. Westwood, NJ: Fleming H. Revell. OCLC 664188.
  • ——— (1971). On the Meaning of Biblical Prophecy. Position paper / Northeast Ohio Committee on Middle East Understanding. 2. Cleveland, OH: Northeast Ohio Committee on Middle East Understanding. OCLC 4356532.
  • ——— (1977). The Dead Sea Scrolls: a personal account. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans. ISBN 978-0-802-81695-5. OCLC 799435349.
  • ——— (1983). The Bible and the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict. Claremont, CA: School of Theology at Claremont. OCLC 13240492.

Further reading
  • Abegg, Martin. "John C. Trever." Biblical Archaeology Review, September/October, 2006.
  • Shanks, Hershel. Mystery and Meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls (New York: Vintage Books, 1998).
  • Trever, John C., The Untold Story of Qumran (Westwood: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1965).

References
  1. "Dead Sea Scrolls Scholar John Trever Dies". Albuquerque Journal. Associated Press. May 2, 2006. Retrieved 17 January 2021.
  2. VanderKam, James, and Flint, Peter, The Meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls (HarperSanfrancisco, 2002), p.70.
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