Stephen Goranson wrote in his reply to my last post:
> You raised the question why these mss were collected. Simple:
>Essene sectarians. Since the scrolls are an Essene sectarian collection,
>there is no one geographic source; rather, the source was a group of Jewish
>people, variously located, including at Qumran.
>
My problem is that it doesn't seem so simple. At the beginning of the year I
reviewed the standard works on Qumran- Vermes etc, and I was unable to find
one convincing argument for the sectarian Essene origin of the Scrolls.
(Although there were some clever arguments mounted once the Essene theory was
assumed.)
It seems rather a burden that you, Stephen, seem to have to bear the load of
defending the 'consensus' view on the Orion list. I've only been on Orion
since last year. Is it really true that the list is mainly comprised of
'radicals'? This is my impression anyway.
May I ask you Stephen, what form of the 'Essene' theory you hold to?
Apparently not that Qumran was the home for an isolated sect. More like
Stegemann's view of a nationwide movement for whom Qumran was something of a
study centre? You seem to be arguing that the Scrolls were brought to Qumran
from elsewhere (largely)- although only by Essenes (why did they?- this still
seems to be an 'enigma', if you'll pardon the phrase). That seems to be the
point that separates you from Golb, or for that matter Greg Doudna or Ian
Hutchesson (chronology excepted for the latter two). Golb etc say the scrolls
were brought from elsewhere, but not (just) from Essene sources.
I may be wide of the mark in my preceding observations, but I am curious to
know. In any case the Orion list would be duller if there was nobody for the
'radicals' to argue with!
Regards,
Ian Young
Sydney University
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