Martin Abegg

Martin Abegg Jr. is a notable Dead Sea Scrolls scholar and researcher. Abegg is responsible for digitizing the Dead Sea Scrolls concordance, which broke the lengthy publication monopoly held on the scrolls. He went on to found the Dead Sea Scrolls Institute at Trinity Western University. Abegg currently resides in Abbotsford, British Columbia with his wife, Susan. Together they have two daughters.

Early life

Martin Abegg (1950–present) is the son of Barbara and Martin (Jerry) Abegg. He was born in Peoria, Illinois. His mother was a housewife and part-time PE instructor while his father was a college professor and professional engineer.

Education

Abegg graduated from Bradley University in 1972 with a bachelor of science in Geology. After teaching Sunday school inspired him to take language classes, he received a MDiv degree from Northwest Baptist Seminary in 1983. Later, in 1984, Abegg went on to perform graduate work at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Career

Abegg spent two years teaching Hebrew at the Northwest Baptist Seminary. He also spent one year as a pastor. Abegg taught for three years at Grace Theological Seminary in Winona Lake, Indiana. After this, he moved to British Columbia, where he become a professor of Dead Sea Scrolls Studies at Trinity Western University in Langley. Here, he became co-director of the Dead Sea Scrolls Institute alongside Peter Flint.

Dead Sea Scrolls

Abegg first became acquainted with the Dead Sea Scrolls during his graduate work at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. In 1987 he returned to the states, and completed his dissertation at the [Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion|Hebrew Union College]] in Cincinnati on the War Scroll from Qumran Cave 1. During his time at the Hebrew Union College, Abegg began to collaborate with Professor Ben Zion Wacholder. John Strugnell, chief editor of the scrolls, has sent Wacholder a copy of the secret concordance of the Dead Sea Scrolls the editors were usingat the time. Using this concordance, Abegg created a computerized database for the Dead Sea Scrolls] texts. Abegg decided to publish this material while he was completing his dissertation. Though this made Dead Sea Scrolls studies more convenient, Abegg was met with fury. Many influential scholars had been kept away from the materials while the editorial team worked on their first edition of scroll translation. Those who had the privilege of working with the scrolls were angry that their work had been undermined. However, the publication broke a forty-year monopoly on the scrolls, allowing scholars of all kinds access to examine the artifacts.

Publications

• The Dead Sea Scrolls: A New Translation (Harper San Francisco, 1996)
• Co-author of The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible (Harper San Francisco, 1999)
• Co-author of Dead Sea Scrolls Concordance I: The Non-Biblical Texts from Qumran (Leiden Brill, 2003)