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One of the best overviews of the Qumran project is provided by Hershel Shanks (1998). Shanks was part of the basic editorial team, involved with the archeological excavations, and the initial work on the scrolls. He was part of the group which decided, in the 1990s, to open up the Qumran scrolls to general access. He discussed the political machinations of the group, as well as the relationship of the scrolls to the Christian faith, the Essence community, and early Judaism. He also made note of future research possibilities, which continue to be numerous. For example, one issue is the nature of the Copper Scroll and whether that is essentially a fantasy or a real treasure map.
There were many controversies associated with the Dead Sea Scrolls, beginning with their excavation. These scrolls were immediately taken control of by the Christian church, effectively coming under Catholic Christian control through its leadership by Father Roland de Vaux of the Ecole Biblique. He directed the excavations and assembled the editorial team which was later regarded as narrow at a minimum, and possibly anti Semitic in its exclusion of Jews. One of the writers who has published extensively on the Dead Sea Scrolls and has put forth a widely used translation of those scrolls noted that he had great difficulty gaining access to the scrolls to begin with. To him, the original excavation and editorial team was deeply anti Semitic, as well as anti Israel (Shanks, 1999).
Much more of the controversy revolves around the tight control that the original editorial team members sought to exert over access to the Dead Sea Scrolls and publication of any of the materials about them. They were treated as the most secret of documents, rather than as material available to all scholars. Many interested persons went through extreme machinations to gain access to the material, aided by friends such as William Moffett who granted scholars access to a ...