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Re: orion re: Aramaic and DSS



At 09:54 PM 11/29/97 -0400, you wrote:
>
>>John Collins points out in his book "Jewish Wisdom in the Hellenistic Era"
>>that Greek replaced Aramaic as the ligua franca of Palestine during the
>>hellenistic age.  
>
>Splendid, intriguing, but WHAT is his evidence.  Can you give an epitome
>

Inscriptional, documentary, and material evidence like Greek pots, amphora,
etc.  See especially the last (not current) number of BA "Palestine Between
large forces"- very enlightening stuff there!!!!

>>Is it possible that documents were written and copied in Hebrew and Aramaic
>>precisely because the common folk could not read them or understand them if
>>they heard them read (much as Latin was the language of debate in the middle
>>ages because the common folk could not read it and thus would not be "harmed
>>in faith" by scholarly debates)?  
>
>That fits the "Secrecy" view Phil set forth just now.
>

I missed this one or have not had it show up yet.

>>In other words, is it possible that the scrolls were written in a language
>>desgned to be known only by initiates?
>
>This was the hidden reason for centuries in the Roman Church,  I suggest
>it is so in the Academic Community, one example being the difficulty of
>springing the Scrolls from the hands of an inside group and the
>liklihood "obscuranticism" will hide them again.
>

Lets hope not- and in all fairness to the excellent team of editors now on
the job like Tov, Ulrich, Garcia-Martinez, and others, I would not expect
that any obscurantism would be allowed.

>
>L8R

Very nice!!!

>
>Tom Simms 
>SAINT JOHN, N. B.
>

Jim
the wilderness of TN, USA.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Jim West
Adjunct Professor of Bible
Quartz Hill School of Theology

jwest@highland.net