Jesus the Essene

Discussion about the Hebrew Bible, Septuagint, pseudepigrapha, Philo, Josephus, Talmud, Dead Sea Scrolls, archaeology, etc.
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John T
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Jesus the Essene

Post by John T »

Jesus the Essene.

Answering the critics.

No direct links can be shown between Jesus and the [Dead Sea] scrolls…” Prof. Lawrence Schiffman.
http://lawrenceschiffman.com/research/dead-sea-scrolls/

The sophistry of Prof. Schiffman goes something like this: Since the Dead Sea Scrolls were written long before the ministry of Jesus, that is proof that Jesus could not have been an Essene.
However, not only is that a straw-man argument but wrong in of itself based on carbon-14 dating.
The margin of error for carbon-14 dating suggests that a few of the scrolls were likely written during the time of Jesus and the first Christians. For example: A Messianic Apocalypse (4Q521) is carbon-14 dated between 49 BCE-116 CE.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_da ... ea_Scrolls

I have heard enough of the Prof. Schiffman lectures to predict his response to this little-known fact about 4Q521 and carbon-14 testing. He would point out that the margin of error of carbon-14 testing in no way rules out his theory (without conceding the same point to the opposition). Furthermore, he would likely claim (without proof of a direct link) that 4Q521 is a copy of a copy and not the original composition. That the original composition therefore would be much older and likely composed shortly after the Maccabean revolt around 150 BCE.

However, I am not arguing that Jesus or his followers were the original authors of 4Q521 or even copied it decades/centuries later (that is a straw-man argument). Instead, I am saying that the language in 4Q521 is consistent with the ministry of Jesus which is also consistent with the apocalypse views of the Essenes.

4Q521 predicts that the messiah would heal the wounded, revive the dead and bring good news to the poor. The followers of Jesus i.e., Christians, believed he fulfilled those predictions and thus is the messiah. See, Isaiah 61:1 and Matthew 11:4-5.

By acknowledging the similarities of the teachings of Jesus and the teachings of the 4Q521, it is a legitimate argument to suggest that since Jesus knew about the secret apocalyptic teachings of the Qumran community, i.e., Essenes, that he most likely was one as well.

Please do not conflate my argument with the Eisenman theory that the Essenes were Christians.
"It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of a thing he was never reasoned into."...Jonathan Swift
John2
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Re: Jesus the Essene

Post by John2 »

Hey, John T.

This recent book gives the carbon dating of 4Q521 as 50 BCE to 80 CE:

https://books.google.com/books?id=w6-oB ... ng&f=false

And Joseph notes that:
Considering the fact that 4Q521 [fragment 2, col. 2, line] 12 contains an allusion to Isaiah 61, and that [the sayings source] Q 7:22 does so as well, the similarity is striking: "both texts juxtapose an allusion to Isa 61,1 with a reference to giving life to the dead." In "the whole of Jewish literature between the Bible and the Mishnah, it is only in 4Q521 and the Jesus saying" in Q that Isaiah 61 is expanded with a statement about the raising of the dead.

https://books.google.com/books?id=eskHk ... ws&f=false
You know in spite of all you gained, you still have to stand out in the pouring rain.
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spin
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Re: Jesus the Essene

Post by spin »

John2 wrote:This recent book gives the carbon dating of 4Q521 as 50 BCE to 80 CE:

https://books.google.com/books?id=w6-oB ... ng&f=false
This book uses the Jull, Donohue, Broshi & Tov article of 1995 (written at least a year earlier). The results were recalculated using an improved calibration in 1997, which gives "49 BCE - [24, 44, 46 CE] - 116 CE". See Doudna, Dead Sea Scrolls after 50 Years, vol.1, ed Flint & VanderKam, Leiden: Brill 1998, p.470.
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John2
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Re: Jesus the Essene

Post by John2 »

Cool. Thanks, spin.
You know in spite of all you gained, you still have to stand out in the pouring rain.
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