DSS.950302 Class Minutes #14 (2 March 1995), Dead Sea Scrolls University of Pennsylvania, Religious Studies 225, Robert A. Kraft Recorder: Jarid Lukin (solo) Reminder: Book reviews are preferably due before Spring Break. Format should follow that of IOUDAIOS Reviews (IOUD-REV). A sheet of guidelines for these type of reviews was handed out at the beginning of class today. These guidelines do not have to be held to strictly, but you should have some sort of idea as to what the tags mean. Miscellaneous Information ========================= The Garcia Martinez translation textbook (the big red one) also contains a useful introduction to the Dead Sea Scrolls, but it presupposes the sort of basic knowledge available in such treatments as VanderKam and Fitzmyer. Dr. Kraft feels that the class is ready and should be able to profit from this introduction. It offers a good summary of the history of the finds and discusses other topics such as what has been found in the caves that might link them to the site at Qumran (i.e. pottery), and what other "Judean Desert" caves have been found in addition to those near Qumran. Read it. The March/April Issue of the Biblical Archaeological Review (BAR) is out. It has reviews of some books that some members of the class have been reading and will be of more general interest: Norman Golb, Who Wrote The Dead Sea Scrolls; Neil Asher Silberman, The Hidden Scrolls: Christianity, Judaism, and the War for the Dead Sea Scrolls; Lawrence Schiffman, Reclaiming The Dead Sea Scrolls. A Historical Time Line To Help Put Things In Perspective ======================================================== For the continued discussion and understanding of various debates over the scrolls, a broader picture of the historical context of the scrolls, and of Judaism and early Christianity, is important: 2000 bce Abraham and "the Patriarchs" 1500 Moses and Joshua 1000 David Solomon (builds Jerusalem Temple) "The Divided Kingdom (North and South)" Fall of the Northern Kingdom to Assyria, around 721 Fall of Southern Kingdom (Judah) to Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia in 587/586, with destruction of the Temple (Persian Empire; "Second Temple" established around 520) 500 / \ | 330 Alexander the Great, Greek World Empire | 165 Hasmonean/Maccabean Revolt (against Greek Seleukids) unrest -- "Hasidim," DSS group, etc. | 63 (End of Hasmonean/Maccabean Independence) | 2nd Temple Period (about 520 bce - 70 ce) [0 bce/ce] | 30 Joshua/Jesus and the beginnings of "Christianity" Philo | \ / 70 Fall of Jerusalem ("First Revolt"), Qumran and Masada Josephus 135 Bar Kokhba and the "Second Revolt" (Murabba'at) 325 Eusebius Constantine -- Greco-Roman Emperor Emergence of Classical Judaism Emergence of Classical Christianity (no longer unrecognized by the Romans as a distinct religion) 500 ce How one views the DSS group in relation to their "biblical" and "post-biblical" past, and in relation to the development of "classical (rabbinic) Judaism" as well as early Christianity, has a great influence on the debates over who they were and what their significance may be. Especially controversial are the perceived or imagined lines between the varieties of Judaism in the "second Temple period" and what emerges as "classical Judaism," on the one hand, and what develops into "early Christianity" on the other. As noted last class, the term "Essene" may or may not be a general category imposed by outsiders on a certain group. There is no first hand record of a community calling themselves Essenes. The term Essene might come from a word meaning "pious" and therefore, might be used to classify a certain type of piety by an outsider. It is possible that there was no "official" definition (however that would be determined!) for being classified as an "Essene." "Sadducee" does not seem to be such a nebulous designation. It is applied to a specific class, an elite class closely associated with the Jewish priesthood ("Zadokites" ?). It is presented as a limited term unlike "Essene." The name Sadducee is first introduced by Josephus in connection with the rule of John Hyrkanus (135-104 bce). But Josephus wasn't alive and present at that time. So, at best, he provides second hand evidence. The same holds for Josephus' description of the emergence of the "Pharisees" in the same period. There are also other names of "Jewish groups" reported in ancient sources (especially by early Christian writers) that lack any useful description [see, for an introductory treatment, Marcel Simon, Jewish Sects at the Time of Jesus (Fortress 1967)] -- e.g. Hemerobaptists, Masbothei, Genistae, Meristae, Galileans. In antiquity, only two people from whom we have writings refer to themselves as associated with "Pharisees": Paul and Josephus. You cannot make a whole lot out of a religious grouping term (i.e. Essene, perhaps even Pharisee) in and of itself. The classifications were probably to some extent arbitrary distinctions made by the authors, much as we use similar labels even today -- ponder the various ways in which terms such as "conservative/Conservative" function for us. At this point, Irv questioned why it would be considered problematic to draw a direct line back from "classical Judaism" to the Pharisees. His point was that if we have a more or less clear picture of classical Judaism, that sort of Judaism is not likely to have emerged without connection to the same sorts of ideas in its past. Dr. Kraft did not deny that the connection might be direct (by way of intentional transmission, as well as by way of later perception), but argued that there is not enough evidence from the generations that fall between these two time periods to give us sufficient detail regarding the exact relationship of early Pharisaic to later classical/rabbinic Judaism. The dynamics of historical development are unclear. Some Discussion on Recent DSS Controveries ========================================== Barbara Thiering's Jesus and the Riddle of the Dead Sea Scrolls (Harper-Collins 1992) is a book that identifies John the Baptist as the Teacher of Righteousness and Jesus as the Wicked Priest of the Qumran texts. She claims that scrolls were written by very early, selfconsciously Christian authors who have coded their writings. Thiering also claims that she has broken this alleged code. Dr. Kraft feels that the class should now have enough background information to read this book intelligently and objectively. [For a readable summary and review, see Hershel Shanks in BAR 18.5 (Sept/Oct 1992) 69f.] Another recent controversial book may be even more seductive than Thiering's. It is written by Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh and is entitled The Dead Sea Scrolls Deception (Summit 1991). In the first part of the book, a lot of interesting and valuable information is given. However, as the title suggests, the book then goes off and ventures into some eccentric arguments and theories that have little or no evidential support. //end dss.950302//