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

Re: orion Hirschfeld implications

    [The following text is in the "iso-8859-1" character set]
    [Your display is set for the "US-ASCII" character set]
    [Some characters may be displayed incorrectly]

Chadwick wrote:
> 
> J.J. Hays wrote:
> >
> >Though the memory will linger on, I would think that the Essene hegemony
> >over Dead Sea Scrolls scholarship has simply folded with Hirschfeld's
> >discoveries. Or more succinctly: it's a dead letter.
> >
> >Sorry, if this has already been covered. I won't post any more on the
> >matter.
> >
> >Best.
> >
> >Jay
> >
> >J.J. Hays
> >-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
> >I don't think we're in Kansas anymore, Toto!
> 
> It is quite apparent from posts like the above (and the 'first toll'
> posting) that there are many scholars who are not willing to subject
> Hirschfeld's theory to the same standards/burdens of evidence that they
> would vehemently require for Qumran/Essene/DSS connections.  Does this
> discovery of a settlement of approx 25 people and a perfume bottle really
> refute the Qumran/Essene theory???  Isn't premature speculation one of the
> charges leveled against proponents of Essene composition of the DSS??  Even
> if this small settlement were proven to be Essene, would this be 'the'
> Essene settlement referred to by Pliny????  I think that (IMHO) much, much
> more data must surface before this becomes seriously debatable.

	I strongly agree.  Hirschfeld's discovery is intriguing and
provocative.  If these "huts" were Essene, future excavation might tell
us more about these fascinating people and ADD TO the corpus of data
from Qumran.  There is absolutely nothing in these preliminary reports
to spell the "death toll" of the Qumran hypothesis.  I doubt very much
if the Isaiah scroll could even be rolled out in one of those
structures,
no less written there.  If the sectarians supported themselves by
agrarian means, cultivating balsam, etc, it would seem logical that
the "field hands" would be in the area described.  It could have
been part of the same community or a different community altogether.
All we can do is wait patiently for further results of the excavations.
	I would even let old Pliny sit on his heels and wait for
Dr. Hirschfeld.

Jack
-- 
D’man dith laych idneh d’nishMA nishMA
   Jack Kilmon (jpman@accesscomm.net)    
                                       
                      
 http://scriptorium.accesscomm.net