This volume publishes papers delivered at the Second International Conference on the Deuterocanonical Books (Papa, Hungary). This conference dealt with the Books of the Maccabees. As such, this was the most extended discussion of these books that ever took place at a scholarly meeting. The volume contains articles on the textual forms, traditions, theology and ideology of the books, and demonstrates the books' relationship with the contemporary literature of early Judaism.

This is an assessment of dualistic thinking in the Qumran material written by leading contributors in the light of two decades of Qumran research. The importance of dualistic thinking within the Dead Sea Scrolls has always been emphasised in Qumran Studies . Nevertheless, in the last two decades the research on Qumran dualism seems to have been on the margins of scholarly interest. The main result of contemporary research in this area is support for the conviction that one cannot postulate compelling doctrines in the 'theology of Qumran' - the group did not want to develop a sophisticated...