Ed Cook kindly responded to my g-megillot post in this thread on his blog 14 Dec.:
http//:ralphriver.blogspot.com I'll respond here and try to post a link there in comments. Previously Ed blogged that all Qumran mss were copied from 100 to 5 BCE, with *few if any* outside that range. Now he happily moderates that to claim the mss are "largely confined to the first century BCE." We all agree (how often can you say that?) that *many* mss are from that century; at issue are earlier and later mss. For sake of history research let me disagree with various points either in the blog and/or in Wise Abegg Cook pages 26-34. For boring reasons I'm a bit rushed. I hope to provide more support in part 2. Briefly: It is plainly false that C14 does not support first century CE ms dates. It plainly does support such. I can discuss the facts, and widespread misunderstandings later. For now, merely look at figure 3, page 462 in DSS After Fifty Years vol. 1. And archaeology supports continuing of Qumran occupation into the first century CE. Paleography still supports dates before and after 100-5 BCE. 4Q448 is *against* King Jonathan. The language and the history and A BC context show this. What is imagined praised about him? If he is good guy, who is the conveniently unnamed bad guy? Ed did not address the odd and obscuring jumping from focus on 2 sects to focus on more than 3 sects, underplaying 3 sects, even given MMT (from the observers of torah, self-called.) The Wise book never utters the collocation "Judah the Essene." Would that his next one will, and skip denial of him. WAC switched from denying anti-hasmoneanism in Jannaeus time to embracing is for his sons, both two wimpy, insubstantial, changeable to be WP in any case, surely not "the only two candidates" ! (p. 31) Much less can either be the TR. And if the TR began ministry in 2nd c. BCE, long time to await a A II WP. Wise later allowed post 63 dates, with Romans present. But there are very few *agreed upon* dated internal references in any case, so a week reed to rest dating limit claims. Left unaddressed: internal contradictions: Essenes both involved and not involved in politics; the obscuring of differt grounds to find a hasmonean priest unfit (related to the 4Q448 misunderstanding then switch to allow anti A II). The sentence fragment quoted from a sentence by Doudna page 464 is flat false. Also unaddressed: the exceedingly probable reality, in a mss world, that anyone collecting mss gets some older ones. Thanks, Ed. I see progress. all the best, Stephen Goranson _______________________________________________ g-Megillot mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mailman.McMaster.CA/mailman/listinfo/g-megillot
