A TWU religious studies professor has won a coveted international award for his work in the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Professor Andrew Perrin has received one of 10 2016 Manfred Lautenshlaeger Awards for Theological Promise for his first publication, The Dynamics of Dream-Vision Revelation in the Aramaic Dead Sea Scroll. The award recognizes scholars’ first published book as well as contributions to the topics of God and spirituality. Perrin, who holds an MA in Biblical Studies from TWU, is the third TWU alum to win the honour.
Perrin hopes to add something valuable to academic scholarship on the scrolls. “For me, it’s about making a contribution,” he says. “It’s not just a testimony to TWU’s program, but a heritage of the students making contributions to the community.”
Perrin’s book looks at the Aramaic scrolls and the authors’ openness to dream revelation, drawing mostly on the book of Daniel. He analyzes how we have a relationship with a living God by bringing forth several questions: What are the revelations used for? How does this group of writers interpret God?
It has been a long road for Perrin, who first began working through these ideas in his PhD dissertation in 2009. His book was published in September 2015.
“It’s a milestone for the work that has gone into it,” says Perrin. “I hope this publication can be a tool for others down the road.”
On February 23, Andrew Perrin and three other MA Biblical Studies grads will discuss the topics in Perrin’s book at the upcoming Dead Sea Scrolls event, “Re-Imagining the Scriptural Past.” The event will take place from 7 – 9 p.m. in the TWU Devries Centre Auditorium.
Perrin received the award, which is administered by the University of Heidelberg, at the end of 2015.