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Re: orion not either/or



Gentle Jim--

In re:
> >       Whether we approve or not, evidence shows Essenes lived at Qumran
> 
> What evidence?  What material find has been recovered that proves that
> Essenes lived in the buildings of Khirbet Qumran?  Are there documents from
> the buildings?  Did someone scrawl "Essenes were here" on one of the walls?
> Are there cups, saucers, platters, or utensils stamped with the "essene mark"?

I quite agree with you here.  Although we seem to have uncovered bags
full of evidence, what interpretation one might make of those bags full
is quite another problem.  However...

--[snip]--
> >Second Temple Judaism as a whole nor a small, isolated sect. Essene legal
> >views, largely, were rejected or ignored by Rabbinic Judaism, though there
> >was probably more Essene influence on Jewish mystical traditions which
> >persisted. In Christianity, some of the more "Jewish-Christian" books, like
> >Revelation of John and Epistle of James  (books, not so incidently,
> >disliked by Luther [an ex-monk]) were probably influenced by Essene ideas;
> 
> !!!!!  What evidence is there of this?  Parallelomania?
> 
> >but, though canonical, were reinterpreted over time.
> 

Having not studied James sufficiently to even be dangerous [as in "a
little knowledge"] I truly cannot speak to that.  But I suspect that one
can indeed make a fairly strong case for a very wide variety of
re-interpretation by Christian "tradition" for the Revelation of John. 
The last time I taught a seminar in the Apocalypse, we were fortunate
enough to have two published Christian authors on that topic--along with
a couple of MA candidates whose interest in the course was their work in
Jewish apocalyptic.  Trust me, the discussions spanned a wide spectrum
of interpretation and re-interpretation!  Dr Goranson is quite correct
here.


> Huh?
> 
> >Stephen Goranson     goranson@duke.edu
> 
> Jim
> 
> +++++++++++++++++++++++
> Jim West, ThD
> Adjunct Professor of Bible
> Quartz Hill School of Theology
> 
> jwest@highland.net

-- 

Stay connected!

          ---Bob

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          "Si hoc legere scis nimium eruditionis habes!"

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   Bob Dietel -- CLIP/MDHS                          
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