[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

orion re: experts

At 08:24 AM 5/28/97 -0400, you wrote:


>As one who is no DSS expert but very interested in the topic, I joined this
>list to hear from the experts in the field.  What puzzles me is that we see
>so many (and such lengthy) disquisitions from persons who are not scholars
>in the field, yet we hear almost nothing from the many scholars, proficient in
>the relevant languages (Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek) whom I know to be working on
>DSS.
>

Perhaps because those engaged full time are engaged full time, and cannot
respond to every uninformed post or question.  Or perhaps because they
assume that those who join such a list know something about the field.
After all, it is not too much to ask that a person read the standard works
in a field before presuming to ask questions.

>Is it possible that those who are in a position to give us sound and valuable
>information at first hand from their personal research on the DSS texts
>are "scared off" this list by the second-hand, frequently unsubstantiated
>assertions of a few individuals who, despite their inability to read the
>actual texts, seem persuaded that they know more about it than the scholars do!
>

I don't think so.  I am not engaged full time in Scrolls scholarship- but
neither am I a dilettante.  But I scarcely think those who are full time
scholars are scared off!  They simply chose not to respond to silly posts.
When a serious question is asked you will notice that such luminaries as
Eugene Ulrich and F. Garcia-Martinez respond with the appropriate infortmation.

>If this is the case, what if anything can Orion do about it?  As a non-expert
>I certainly do not advocate that dilettantes be removed from the list; I do
>think, though, that our task as dilettantes is mainly to ask questions (and
>sometimes to point to likely connections with texts in our own fields of exper-
>tise) rather than to make dogmatic assertions based on either misinformation or
>disinformation as the case may be.
>

The first task of the dilettante is to read the material so that questions
can be framed in such a way as to receive an answer.

>Judith Romney Wegner
>Connecticut College


Jim
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Jim West, ThD
Pastor, Petros Baptist Church
Managing Editor, The Journal of Biblical Studies
http://web.infoave.net/~jwest/index.htm

jwest@highland.net