In “The Book of Isaiah at Qumran,” Jesper Høgenhaven offers a concise overview of the texts related to Isaiah that were discovered among the Dead Sea Scrolls. The book’s importance for the Qumran community is attested not only by the large number of copies that survived, but also by various other genres of sectarian literature that drew from and reflected on the book, including the pesher commentaries and even the Community Rule (1QS). The Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsaa) is the longest biblical scroll found at Qumran. It is an important witness for reconstructing the oldest text of the book, and also subtly reflects some of the earliest interpretive decisions about it.

The Safavid/Shiʿi age dawned ominously in Khurasan, with Herat’s capitulation, the execution of Herat’s last Sunni shaykh al-Islam, and violence against Sunnis. Surprisingly, however, the shrine received Safavid support, from Shah Ismaʿil I and Shah ʿAbbas I. Nonetheless, endless Safavid-Uzbek wars and sectarian strife scarred Khurasan, leading members of the saint cult to find succor with kinsmen in Mughal India. During the succeeding centuries – late Safavid, Afsharid, Zand, Qajar, and Pahlawi rule – the shrine fell into disrepair and the cult withered. The founding of the (Shiʿi) Islamic Republic of Iran (1979), paradoxically, signaled the rejuvenation of the saint cult and the revivification of the shrine complex.

This chapter describes Protestant active rebels in the War of Independence and on the republican side in the Irish Civil War. It discusses the formative influences of Protestant IRA men, their activities during the conflict, and their tendency to support the anti-Treaty side during the succeeding Civil War. It also discusses the Protestant women of Cumann na mBan, and highlights the treatment of women who rejected the Treaty. Changing attitudes towards ‘outsiders’ or ‘synthetic Gaels’ are treated. The extent to which Irish Protestants were victims of a campaign of sectarian-based harassment and intimidation during this era has been controversial. The final section traces the reaction of some Protestant nationalists to events such as those of Dunmanway in late April 1922, when thirteen Protestant men were killed.