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RE: orion-list 1QS and hellenistic associations
For interaction with M. Klinghart's article and the issue of models for
community organization at Qumran:
Nathan Jastram gave a paper at the IOQS in Cambridge on community
organization, distinguishing between various sources for structural models
including patterns based on biblical texts, future expectations, and
beliefs about the spiritual realm in addition to patterns from the actual
social context of the Mediterranean world. (Jastram, N. "Hierarchy at
Qumran." In Legal Texts and Legal Issues: Proceedings of the second Meeting
of the International Organization for Qumran Studies, Cambridge, 1995
published in honour of Joseph M. Baumgarten, eds. M. J. Bernstein, F.
Garcia Martinez, and J. Kampen. 349-376. Leiden: Brill, 1997.)
I presented a paper "Community Order at Qumran" at the 1996 SBL (not
published) emphasizing the role of idealized biblical models. I argued that
social reality was perceived and presented through the lens of biblical
interpretation. Ie., despite the similarities to Hellenistic associations
which almost certainly had an influence in some way, this would in no way
be recognized (ie., it was not direct, or a conscious modeling on); rather,
the social structures practiced by the sect were perceived and presented to
be continuation of biblical models (as according to their interpretation).
See e.g., also Sarah Pearce who noted in a very interesting article
("Josephus as Interpreter of Biblical Law: the Representation of the High
Court of Deut. 17:8-12 according to Jewish Antiquities 4:218", JJS 46
(1995) 30-42) that Josephus' interpretation of the high court iof Deut
17:8-12 is an idealization of the successors to Moses' authority: Eleazar
the High Priest, Joshua, and the elders. She shows how Josephus
systematically supplements the biblical narrative of Deut - 1 Samual to
manifest this triple authority (eg. Ant. 4:186). I showed how this
interpretation could have been derived from the biblical text itself, and
furthermore that a nearly identical interpretation was expressed in the
community organization rules in the Damascus Document.
Also see the review of Weinfeld's book by G. Brooke (I don't have details
at hand) who showed that the supposed parallels are very weak indeed and
not in a single case more than partial (ie, Weinfeld's parallels are culled
cumulatively from many different sources; there is no single parallel that
presents the totality of similarities).
Daniel
___________________________
Dr. Daniel Falk
Asst. Professor of Religious Studies
Department of Religious Studies
1294 University of Oregon
Eugene, OR 97403 USA
office phone (541) 346-4980
office fax (541) 346-2220
For private reply, e-mail to "Daniel K. Falk" <dfalk@OREGON.UOREGON.EDU>
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