On Wednesday 15 December 2004 03:57, philip davies wrote: > In reply to Stephen's comment below: > > I have written elsewhere about the relationship between 1QH and the > pesharim, concluding that data in the latter about the life of the > Teacher and of his opponents are not reliable. I do accept that there > are a (very) few references in the DSS to historical events, but none > that we can safely translate into sectarian history. > We can of course recreate a sectarian history from D, but > only with the use of redaction criticism, which not all scholars > accept. But I think we can posit a sequence of events involving an > expected teacher, a claimant, a rift, the teacher's death and > subsequent dismay among followers. Purely on the basis of that > document the 'Liar' can be identifies as the leader of the movement > that rejected the claims of the 'teacher'. > But I can't find any basis for identification here or even > for dating. And since D has been filtered via the yahad, or at least > through followers of the teacher, it needs careful analysis. I see no > basis for a wicked priest, or persecution of the Teacher, or indeed > any external opposition. D suggests the teacher was involved in an > internal exercise and only retrospectively, in the eyes of his > followers, became the victim of a 'wicked priest', a figure possibly > confused with the liar in some pesher texts. > I could go on.It is frustrating that if they were not > Essenes, this apparently major group (?) is unmentioned elsewhere. I > dare say they did not call themselves Essenes, however. I wish I knew > what name they did use.
Agreed. I do wonder if perhaps it might have been a catch-all term used by "outsiders" to describe people (most anywhere) who tried to behave a certain way. Considering the divergent descriptions that remain to us, I wonder if they were actually an organized "sect" at all, or just a descriptive term for a particular type of mindset. -- Dave Washburn http://www.nyx.net/~dwashbur "No good. Hit on head." -Gronk _______________________________________________ g-Megillot mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mailman.McMaster.CA/mailman/listinfo/g-megillot
