Re: "Debating Qumran: Collected Essays on Its Archaeology" by Jodi Magness

On Oct 26, 4:45 pm, Jack Linthicum <jacklinthi...@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
On Oct 26, 3:56 pm, David <pchristain...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
...
One question: Doesn't Dr. Magness refute Dr. Thiering?
...
Funny, she seems to

Please be specific. I am willing to get into it with you.

The Archaeology of Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls (Paperback)
by Jodi Magness (Author)

No Fringe Theories Allowed, November 2, 2002
By Virgil Brown (White Oak, Texas USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)
This review is from: The Archaeology of Qumran and the Dead Sea
Scrolls (Studies in the Dead Sea Scrolls and Related Literature)
(Hardcover)
Jodi Magness points out in the introduction to her book that there are
two reasons why fringe theories about the Dead Sea Scrolls are
numerous. The second is that "we tend to side with the underdogs." The
first reason is that controversy sells. Magness shows why the
available archaeological evidence supports the basic conclusions of
Roland de Vaux. The scrolls and the Qumran settlement are related. The
scrolls were owned by a sectarian group. The settlement is not a villa
rustica. Etc. Yet Magness does not rubber stamp the work of de Vaux.
For example she sets forth her own chronology of the settlement.

This book is not for people who subscribe to fringe theories. There
are no Christian writings found among the scrolls. Nor are the scrolls
a depository of the Temple either in 62 BCE or 68 CE. There used to be
a sect known as the Essenes who lived at Khirbet Qumran...

These guys?

The Meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls: Their Significance For
Understanding the Bible, Judaism, Jesus, and Christianity (Paperback)
by James Vanderkam (Author), Peter Flint (Author)>From Library Journal

VanderKam (Univ. of Notre Dame; The Dead Sea Scrolls Today) and Flint
(codirector, Dead Sea Scrolls Inst., Trinity Western Univ., B.C.) have
produced a richly informative and insightful book. The content is not
all that unusual among recent books on the Scrolls, but the sober,
thorough, and balanced presentation sets it apart. The book begins
with an examination of the discovery and dating of the Scrolls, which
includes the results of new technology. The authors discuss the text
and canon of the Hebrew Bible in addition to the Apocrypha and New
Testament in relation to the Scrolls. This is followed by a review of
the nonbiblical Scrolls and their message. They also evaluate some
earlier books on the Scrolls that make outlandish, unfounded claims
concerning what they purportedly reveal about Jesus and early
Christianity, then present some well-documented ways the Scrolls do
offer important background material for understanding Jesus'
teachings. The final chapter closes with a review of the controversies
surrounding the Scrolls. Each chapter contains helpful sidebars and
ends with a useful "Select Bibliography" for further research. Highly
recommended as a clear, scholarly, and balanced presentation that
helps the reader grasp both the significance of the Scrolls and their
value as background material for our understanding of the Bible.
David Bourquin, California State Univ., San Bernardino

Please take in this introductory background -

On Methodology
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/qumran_origin/message/2694

"Q. 3. The information from the DSS pesharim helped solve the NT
pesher,
but the NT pesher is not a direct extension from the OT pesharim of
the DSS.

A. I think I recognise here a criticism stemming from Vanderkam,
that I am not using pesher in the same sense as in DSS. He did
not distinguish between the definition of scripture contained in the
DSS pesharim, and the final form that those pesharim took. The
definition of scripture that they contained was that it had two
levels,
an obvious meaning to everyone, and a hidden meaning that was
only available to an interpreter who had special knowledge - or,
in their view, to whom God had revealed the secret. Their analogy
was in the interpretation of dreams. The word pesher is another
form of the word pithron, from verb pathar, meaning the
interpretation of dreams as in Gen 40:8."



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