orion-list Philo and pacifism of Essenes

[Greg Doudna <gd@teol.ku.dk>]

I think Russ Gmirkin's posts of 19 Dec and 20 Dec 1999 on
Philo are just brilliant.  But just to be devil's advocate to 
both Gmirkin and Batsch for a moment, consider this: 
maybe Philo wants to have the Therapeutae be innocent, 
peaceful, etc.  So he compares them to a group that everyone
knows is peaceful, namely the Essenes of Judea.  In other 
words, like a good defense attorney, Philo associates his client
in the dock (the Therapeutae, leading Jews of Alexandria) with 
a group from afar of known peaceful nature and virtues, the 
Essenes.  The effectiveness of the tactic presupposes that 
the Essenes actually were thought by their contemporaries
to be peaceful.  I would be interested in Gmirkin's comment 
on this.  

Greg Doudna

For private reply, e-mail to Greg Doudna <gd@teol.ku.dk>
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