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orion PHARISEE = P/FARSEE ?
> On Pharisees as "Persians," George, it does not seem to me
>that you >have presented reason to drop the Hebrew root origin of the
Greek
>term, nor >presented anything especially Persian about them. Previously,
if I
>recall, >I wondered if you were relying on the writings of Edmund
Bordeaux
>Szekely. >If so, are you aware that his claim, for example, to have
translated
>an >"Essene Gospel of Peace" from ancient manscripts is fraudulent?
>best wishes,
>Stephen Goranson
>
Thank you, Stephen G..
I did not base my view on E.B. Szekely's writings. Though I have heard
of his Essene Gospel of Peace. Based on what I had heard, I wasn't too
interested in reading it. But my "position" on the term Pharisee is so
profoundly non-technical, how can I ever hope to prevail. For my
position comes from the REAL world and from what looks like obvious
currents in Palestinian/Babylonian history, rather than what
ethno-centric Hebrew linguists might desperately hope to convince their
audience of. Mind you, I am not opposed to ethno-centrism. But in this
case, the whole Pharisee = Separated Ones analysis seems so contrived and
artificial, I can't believe anyone takes it too serioiusly.
For hundreds of years since the return from captivity, it would be
obvious that very zealous Jews would come in small and large waves from
the Babylonian territories. Since we already know that Persians "in
exile" are to this day being called Parsee in India (which simply means
"those Persian guys"), and since even in the Talmud anecdotes are
translated using the generic term "Babylonians" or "Persians" to refer to
Jews from Mesopotamia, it's hard to believe there is any question about
what is going on: Pharisees = "those Persian Jews". It would not be
hard to understand that any faithful Jew motivated enough to travel from
Mesopotamia, would be more than typically motivated about the pursuit of
Jewish tradition (oral or otherwise).
Whereas, on the other hand, to explain the evolution of how people came
to pronounce "separated ones" as Pharisees has NEVER been explained in
any book I have read. Yes, there are a few letters in common, but the
sounds don't seem all that similar - - certainly not as similar as Farsee
or Parsee vs. Pharisee (!). If you ask me, the Pharisee = Separated Ones
is a MUCH more difficult argument than any argument about the derivation
of the term Essene.
Looking forward to comments,
George Brooks
George.X.Brooks@JUNO.com
For private reply, e-mail to George Brooks <george.x.brooks@juno.com>
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