The last major volume of articles devoted to the topic of prayer and poetry in the Dead Sea Scrolls comprised a collection of articles presented at a conference in the year 2000 (Liturgical Perspectives: Prayer and Poetry in Light of the Dead Sea Scrolls). This collection reflects the state of research in the field broadly and on specific prayers and poetic texts found among the Dead Sea Scrolls; it also offers new insights into topics on which Eileen Schuller has written extensively.

This volume contains innovative studies related to the functions of psalms and prayers in the Second Temple period. It utilizes new methods and approaches to explore how psalms and prayers were read and interpreted as liturgical compositions, as history and ethical instruction, as prophecy, and as important building blocks of communal identity, both on national and group level.