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Topic: Zealots for the Nematodes. (Read 992 times) |
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Hermit
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Zealots for the Nematodes.
« on: 2006-11-15 02:18:30 » |
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How toilet habits killed off Dead Sea Scrolls sect
This story is one of the most poorly researched I have read recently, which is normally a warning to steer clear of it. Nevertheless, it offers a fascinating glimpse at an aspect of the stage upon which the "historical Jesus" what little there was of it, originally played. The places in the article where, without cross-reference I could identify variance from well supported fact includes, e.g. the "Community of the Poor", rather than being "Essenes" or "Nazorenes" were self identified "Zealots for the Law"; between the Catholics and Israel, not only was meaningful publication suppressed for 40 years, but also many of the source documents were destroyed beyond recovery, in what had to be either the most gratuitous exposition of neglect and incompetence to the point of criminality I have ever seen in an academic setting (and I have seen some doozies), or a deliberate attempt to suppress publication. Read John Allegro before making up your mind.
The continued attribution of the documents to the totally spurious Essenes (peaceful desert dwelling monks), despite the presence of a massive armory and a forge for the production of weapons, along with archaeological evidence of the sites use during both the 65CE and 135CE uprisings, is a continued reminder of the Catholic church's desperation to avoid identifying the Q'umran community and its Jerusalem operation with "The Teacher of Righteousness" (who was a horrid, self centered fundamentalist revolutionary (If we leave out the gospels' Gnostic gloss, a perfect prototype for "Jesus"), "The Good Priest" (head of the Community of the Poor in Jerusalem - and identifiable as James the brother of Jesus) or "The Wicked Liar" (Paul, Roman spy and supposed founder of the Catholic Church), despite the similarity of some of the names (and for reasons that somebody smart might just be able to figure out). The story has been told and retold. Contrary to the assertion at the end of the article, this is not an "unsupported theory", but rather, so far as I am aware, the conclusion reached by every non-theologically affiliated archaeologist who has been involved in the documents or the site. This has lead to a large number of publications by highly respected experts, all saying effectively the same thing. It was only the release, by John Allegro, respected as a Linguist and despised as an atheist in about equal parts, on Microfiche and on CD by the CSU affiliated Repository of Ancient Documents, of photographic reproductions of some of the early documents now effectively shredded, that has driven publication of any material at all. For a sampling of readily accessible works:- Michael Baigent & Richard Leigh, The Dead Sea Scrolls Deception : Readable. A little hysterical. First half dealing with the history of the scrolls is reasonably accurate massively substantiating the claims by Allegro that the Catholics "managed" access to the scrolls for half a century (Having said that, Allegro was closer to the scene, so while TMOTDSSR is less readable, it is more authoritative). In the second half they deal competently enough with the contents, largely following in Robert Eisenman's (infra) steps but introducing some physical evidence which I found helpful.
- John Allegro, The Mystery of the Dead Sea Scrolls Revealed: Illustrated : Good backgrounding on the documents themselves. Devastates Catholic claims of publication delays due to careful curating or translation issues.
- John Allegro, The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Christian Myth : Weirder than "The Mystery of the Dead Sea Scrolls Revealed". Largely follows the Essene line, shown later to be wrong. Other than that, provides a good analysis of the entire sorry saga. Enough on the contents to form a solid background to the fiasco. Well organised in comparison to JTBOJ Differs significantly from Eisenman on the interpretation of the contents, but IMO provides a better background than either Eisenman or Baigent & Leigh.
- Robert Eisenman James the Brother of Jesus: The Key to Unlocking the Secrets of Early Christianity and the Dead Sea Scrolls : I have often described this as a superb work of scholarship desperately in search of an editor. If you know of somebody interested in and competent to build a DVD with maps, indexes, timelines and bibliographies based around this book, I might be interested in a collaboration. This book takes work and the willingness to make annotations to fully comprehend. If not very familiar with the field, I recommend reading Baigent & Leigh first, and possibly Allegro's works too. If nothing else, your notes from those will help navigate the swamp of a huge range of geography and period where everyone seems to share names.
- Robert H. Eisenman and Michael Wise The Dead Sea Scrolls Uncovered: The 1ST compl Translation intrptn 50 Key Documents Withheld for Over 35 Years : A scholarly work, providing transliteration into modern Hebrew, a translation and a commentary on their significance. This work is interesting as it provides a background to the conclusions drawn in JTBOJ. Note that Amazon offers a special deal on this and JLBOJ together.
- And of course, if serious about learning, there have been dozens of relevant articles over the years in both BAR and Theological Studies.
A caveat, aside from the works above I recommend, there are also works I recommend avoiding. These include those identified as the villains of the opera in the above, heavy duty apologists all. Avoid them until you have read at least Allegro and Eisenman:- Father De Vaux and Father Josef Milik: L'Ecole Biblique
- Father Jean Starcky, Father Maurice Baillet, and Monsignor Patrick Skehan
- Frank Cross, Albright Institute & McCormick Theological Seminary
- Claus-Hunno Hunzinger from Gottingen
- John Strugnell from Oxford
This turned into much more of a document than I meant to produce. Hopefully somebody finds it helpful. Clearly it proves the adage that shit can be positively inspirational :-)
Hermit
Source: The Independent
Authors: Andrew Gumbel
Dated: 2006-11-15
Sometimes, the best survival instincts can be deadly. According to intriguing new research by an international team of Biblical scholars, the religious sect associated with the Dead Sea Scrolls may have been done in by its own scrupulous toilet habits.
The Essenes, who established an ascetic community at Qumran on the north-western shores of the Dead Sea, rejected the common Bedouin practice of relieving themselves in the open. Instead, they assigned a dumping ground about half a mile from their community and buried their waste there, believing the practice to be more hygienic.[Hermit: Ascetic my hairy arse! Anyone making this error should be forced to read "The War Scroll" after school. The actual toilet practice, being Mosaic, is yet another pointer to the fact that far from being Essene, that this was a Zealot encampment, Zealous for the Law (of Moses).]
All that effort, though, appears to have been counterproductive. The parasites and harmful bacteria associated with human waste would have been quickly killed off by the desert sun had they remained above ground. Once buried, they could survive and thrive, creating a toxic environment that infected members of the Essene sect as they walked to and from their toilet area. The parasites almost certainly bred in a special cistern used in religious cleansing ceremonies, providing a compelling reason for the early deaths of many Essenes. [Hermit: It seems their god gave them the wrong instructions.]
"Some people might laugh, but it is terribly sad," one of the scholars, James Tabor of the University of North Carolina, told the Los Angeles Times. "They were so dedicated and had such a strenuous lifestyle, but they were probably lowering their life expectancy and ruining their health in an effort to do what is right." The toilet research conducted by Dr Tabor and his colleagues stemmed, curiously, from a much broader controversy over the authorship of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Several scholars have questioned whether the Essenes really wrote them [Hermit: No. The Zealots did], or even if they ever established a community at Qumran [Hermit: No. The Zealots did].
Dr Tabor and Joseph Zias of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem [Hermit: Which when you have read the recommended works above will inform you that the continuous references to the "Essenes" suddenly makes complete sense as the HUJ is affiliated with LEB which means with the Roman Catholics] took their cue from passages in the Scrolls specifying rules for toilet hygiene. They found an area of soft ground north-west of Qumran, took soil samples and sent them to a French colleague for analysis. The colleague, Stephnie Harter-Lailheugue, found preserved eggs and other remnants of roundworms, tapeworms, whipworms and pinworms. Samples taken from surrounding areas were, by contrast, entirely barren.
The toilet area is now an important piece of evidence linking the Qumran site to the Scrolls and thus belies recent theories that, for example, the Scrolls were hidden in the caves at Qumran by Jews from Jerusalem fleeing the oppression of Roman occupation.
The toilet also provides a compelling explanation for earlier research into the Qumran cemetery, which established that barely one in 20 bodies buried there had survived to the age of 40. Cemeteries from the same period excavated near Jericho have shown that, more typically, half the population would survive beyond 40.
"The graveyard at Qumran is the unhealthiest group I have ever studied in over 30 years," Dr Zias told the Times.
The Dead Sea Scrolls have been a constant source of fascination since their chance discovery by Bedouin tribesmen in 1947. They provide a rare, if not unique, insight into life and customs around the time of Jesus's life and death. They are also the only Biblical-era documents known to have been written before AD100. In other words, they predate the Gospels.
Just about every aspect of the scrolls has been subject to theorising. While religious scholars have agonised over the question of whether, say, the Scrolls were written by the Essenes themselves or by an Essene splinter group, conspiracy theorists have posited that the Scrolls were somehow fabricated or planted by extra-terrestrials.[Hermit: Can you spell "strawman"?]
One intriguing, but almost entirely unsupported, theory suggests the Catholic Church deliberately suppressed publication of the Scrolls to protect its image of Jesus and his life.[Hermit: See my introduction above.]
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With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion. - Steven Weinberg, 1999
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Bass
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Re:Zealots for the Nematodes.
« Reply #1 on: 2006-11-18 15:37:30 » |
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Wow, thanks for that.
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Hermit
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Re:Zealots for the Nematodes.
« Reply #2 on: 2006-11-21 01:28:40 » |
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* Hermit bows. Would you mind sharing which parts you found "wow" and why?
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With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion. - Steven Weinberg, 1999
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Bass
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Re:Zealots for the Nematodes.
« Reply #3 on: 2006-11-21 08:31:30 » |
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Quote from: Hermit on 2006-11-21 01:28:40
* Hermit bows. Would you mind sharing which parts you found "wow" and why?
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Easy one there Hermit, I can answer both with this - the sheer wealth of knowledge involved. It's quite dazzeling, and I'm still up to my sholders in it.
It will take a while for me to get through all this.
Thanks again, I'll do my best and come back if I get stuck.
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Hermit
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Re:Zealots for the Nematodes.
« Reply #4 on: 2006-11-21 10:43:58 » |
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Thanks.
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With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion. - Steven Weinberg, 1999
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