The Keepers: An Introduction to the History and Culture of the Samaritans.

• Author: Brindle, Wayne A.
• Position: Book review

The Keepers: An Introduction to the History and Culture of the Samaritans. By ROBERT T. ANDERSON and TERRY GILES. Peabody, Mass.: HENDRICKSON PUBLISHERS, 2002. Pp. xvi + 165, illus. $29.95.

This work breaks no new ground in the study of Samaritan history or culture, but it does provide a very readable introduction to the ancient and modern relevance of this religious-ethnic group who have survived more than two thousand years of "intrigue, occasional persecution, and frequent deception" (p. 145). It also describes in some detail a collection of Samaritan artifacts and manuscripts at Michigan State University that the authors call "the largest assemblage of Samaritan materials in the United States" (p. 135).

Robert T. Anderson is Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies at Michigan State University. He is the author of Studies in Samaritan Manuscripts and Artifacts and of the articles on the Samaritans in both the Anchor Bible Dictionary and the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, as well as numerous other articles and essays on manuscripts of the Samaritan Pentateuch. His co-author, Terry Giles, is Professor of Theology at Gannon University, and has published studies on Samaritan inscriptions.

They begin by describing the Chamberlain-Warren collection of Samaritan manuscripts and artifacts at Michigan State University and how it came to exist. In 1904 E. K. Warren met some Samaritans in Jerusalem and determined to help them become financially self-sufficient, which resulted in the purchase of numerous manuscripts and artifacts from Samaritan leaders. These materials were given to MSU in 1950.

The collection consists of five classes of items. First, a marble inscription found at Emmaus containing the text of Exodus 15:3 and 11 has a Hebrew text (sixth century A.D.) that shows significant variations from the MT and "shares characteristics of what later became divergent manuscript families" (p. 54). Second, there are about a dozen copies of the Samaritan Pentateuch, dating from the fifteenth to early twentieth centuries. Most of these were written in Damascus, Nablus, and Egypt, variously in Hebrew, Aramaic, and/or Arabic. Third, a scroll case made of brass with an inlaid silver design contains several Samaritan inscriptions, crafted in Damascus by Abu'l Fath in 1524. August von Gall speculated that "this case may once have held the Abisha scroll" venerated by the Samaritan community in Nablus (p. 142). Fourth, there are six liturgical...