LOL - then please start with the Nichomachean Ethics if you think that Bergmeier has a problem with the title of his investigation - in the context he has none, though one has to read (and understand) first the Essenerberichte des Flavius Josephus (sic!). And one has to read the Book of Isaiah to understand the orientation of the yahad in the contemporary geographical space. If both is missed the day dream would be the logical consequence.
Timeout due to the quite obvious trend in the discussion (?) towards a "back to the furture". I really don't believe that you need my experience as historian to arrive at your "historical" conclusions. _Dierk ----- Original Message ----- From: "Stephen Goranson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, December 15, 2004 12:12 PM Subject: Re: [Megillot] Essenes > Good, Philip Davies, you have invited methodological discussion. OK, > methodologically-speaking, I say, starting with "Josephus's Essenes" is not > methodologically the best place to start. (Bergmeier's book also has a related > problem.) Because Philo is plainly earlier. Because Pliny's source, Marcus V. > Agrippa, is plainly earlier. (By the way, both support current existence, as > far as they knew, in both first centuries, BCE and CE, of Essenes.) Because > Josephus's sources and Philo's sources plainly overlap (e.g., in the > hypertetrakischilioi Essenes estimate). This source overlap, I think, was > recognized long before 1948. Posidonius, ethnographer, etymologist, historian, > Stoic/Platonist, Syrian, and Strabo are involved. > > Bibliography: > > L. H. Feldman and J. R. Levison, Josephus' Contra Apion (AGJU 34; Leiden: > Brill, 1996) 22-48. > > S. Goranson, "Others and Intra-Jewish Polemic as Reflected in Qumran Texts," > The DSS After Fifty Years: A Comprehensive Assessment (ed Flint & VanderKam; > vol. 2, Brill 1999, 534-51). > > best, > Stephen Goranson > > > _______________________________________________ > 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
