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Re: question


>> This seems to indicate that in a sacerdotal wing of Judaism,
>> in the third century or early second century, there were people
>> who held a 364 days' calendar, dualism of light and dark, two
>> spirits etc. The particular range of sectarian language of the
>> undisputedly Qumran documents is missing. These documents are
>> all three in Aramaic.
>>
>> I would appreciate any other evidence net members may have
>> about this pre-Qumran sectarianism.
>
>Michael
>
   In think that you are correct in looking for the origins of
>sectarianism in the third century, and it seems to me that the Enoch
>literature (at least, 1 Enoch 6-16) forms a kind of counterpoint to the
>priestly testaments you're working with.  The dualism of the passage from
>Enoch is one of heaven and earth, tracing the origin of sin to the
>illegitimate mixing of the two realms, rather than light and dark, and
>therefore is not so heavily charged with the opposition of good and evil
>as the two-spirit theology of the scrolls.  What I find interesting is
>the way in which these two traditions flow together in the literature of
>the period.

Perhaps it's better not to speak of 'sectarian' since what do we mean by
'orthodox? The priestly establishment? But what was it?
        I myself suspect that Genesis 2-4 is involved in polemic about the
origin of evil (countering the idea that it originates in heaven, inventing
Cain to replace the leader of the fallen angels (look at his genealogy!).
We have here perhaps hints of a conflict between monotheistic and dualistic
theologies. An evolutionary picture of Second Temple Judaism might be
better than one that speaks of orthodoxies and centres, sects and fringes.
The problems we have with the evidence are our own presuppositions, not the
data. Start with the basic ignorance of Persian-early Hellenistic Yehud
that we have and don't fill it in with guesses. (And treat the Ezra story
as a legend possibly the account given by one kind of Judaism aboput the
origins of its Judaism, with Nehemiah and CD being other accounts of other
Judaisms (all with one teacher, of course........)

Philip R Davies
Department of Biblical Studies
University of Sheffield
Sheffield S10 2UJ
England

Tel (0)114-282-4877
Fax (0)114-255-2094