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Re: orion-list Pliny Qumran analysis
Virgil Brown wrote:
> Greg,
>
> > Three questions in an attempt at clearer thinking:
> >
> > (1) If it were not for the scrolls finds around Qumran, would anyone
> > have identified Qumran as the location of Pliny's Essenes? (i.e.
> > is that an obvious or natural reading of Pliny if no scrolls were
> > known?)
>
> Here's a short extract from H Travers Herford's article on the Essenes in
> the 1941 edition of _The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia_.
> "They were a group of pious recluses , for the most part living in
> settlements like the monasteries of later Christian times. They dwelt chiefly
> in the neighborhood of the Dead Sea, and Philo says that they were in number
> about 4000."
> It sounds to me as if Herford would have called Qumran an Essene site
> even if no scrolls were found.
Then why didn't he? The ruins of Qumran were known at that time,
correct? So it would seem to me that if he were inclined to identify
the place as an Essene site, he would have done so. The fact that
he apparently didn't seems significant. It seems to me that this is
evidence supporting Greg's subtle contention that, were it not for
the discovery of the scrolls, Qumran would not have been so
identified.
Dave Washburn
http://www.nyx.net/~dwashbur
A Bible that's falling apart means a life that isn't.
For private reply, e-mail to "Dave Washburn" <dwashbur@nyx.net>
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