----- Original Message ----- From: "philip davies" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, December 13, 2004 10:44 AM Subject: Re: [Megillot] reading for history
> By way of history. > > Isn't it necessary first to establish that the Qumran texts have (a) > historiographical intentions and (b) might convey historical > information. Yes. > The problem with much historical reconstruction, as with biblical > 'history' is that if some kind of accord between known history and a > literary source exists, then that is taken as confirmation of > historicity of the text. Agreed, even if, from time to time, the accord is as thin as a thread. > Why would we think that the soubriquets of the pesharim are > historically reliable when those of the Hodayoth are almost certainly > not indicative of precise groups, let alone individuals? The former seem to be political confrontation, whereas the latter reminds of philosophical consideration. > Why is the 'Wicked Priest' absent from D (though we certainly have > wicked priests)? You mean CD? Probably because the WP is dead already or removed by his enemies. > Why is the figure of a founding 'teacher' nowhere hinted at in S? QS? The premordial matter was not developed by the ToR, but already earlier by the Staff > The one historical conclusions that might be permitted is that if > Josephus has been asked wither the group(s) described in D were what > he would dub 'Essenes' he would almost certainly say (he'd have to!), > 'yes'. What if Pliny or Philo were to answer differently, though? More likely Agrippa's famous literary circle would identify them all as "bandits", unisono. > In the end it may be interesting to speculate on the identity of > historical characters. But such identification will (a) probably > never be certain enough to base any critical history upon, and (b) > tell us little about the nature and origin of the groups represented > in the texts. What if the dramatis personae of the DSS (their "idols") were just on the margins of history. > Yes, I do like doing history. But the sort of history that we can > work at rather than may informed or uninformed guesses about and > which in the end explain little or nothing. We might, for example,.experiment with the historical matrix of Is 40.3 in various Is 10.5-12.6 environments. Thereby is the initial point the question if the exiles of the early 6th c CE, mentioned in CD col i, were actually exiled into the Babylonian exile. _dierk > > Philip Davies > -- > Professor Philip R Davies > University of Sheffield > _______________________________________________ > g-Megillot mailing list > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://mailman.McMaster.CA/mailman/listinfo/g-megillot > > _______________________________________________ g-Megillot mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mailman.McMaster.CA/mailman/listinfo/g-megillot
