I think one can show from Josephus' comments on the Essenes that they
treated other Jews (i.e. Jews who were not fellow Essenes) as if they were
not Jewish, boundary marking against them in much the same ways that Jews
regularly boundary marked against non-Jews. Judging from this behavior of
the Essenes one might conclude that they were not Jewish. I think this
explains Josephus' comment and puts it into a comprehensible context.
Please remember, as well, that in the excursus on the sects Josephus makes
a number of favorable comments about the Essenes, hence he might have felt
the need to anticipate the disdain their behavior might have aroused by
reminding his reader that they were Jewish.
Al Baumgarten
Orion List Owner wrote:
> In the current discussion on Pliny`s and Philo`s Essenians as Jews or
> Judeans, one point is I think, noteworthy: The fact that Josephus
> feels
> obliged to declare that the Essenians are "Jews by birth", a
> remarkable
> statement if we were to ignore other sources on them than Philo`s. It
> seems
> as if in Josephus`time, there was a widely expanded opinion contesting
> the
> Jewishness of Essenes.
>
> Peter Janku
For private reply, e-mail to "Albert I. Baumgarten" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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