http://www.bibleinterp.com/articles/201 ... 8008.shtml
As some forum members might remember, FRDB had a long thread on the Essenes when Rachel Elior put forward her idea that the Essenes did not exist as a historical grouping. I found her idea to be most interesting....
Elior's theory, although mentioned in the media, was outlined in a book - in Hebrew. (which I understand has now been translated into English). What interests me now is a reference, from Greg Doudna's article, to an article by John C. Reeves: COMPLICATING THE NOTION OF AN ‘ENOCHIC JUDAISM’. Available at:
https://www.academia.edu/4620565/Compli ... ic_Judaism_
John C. Reeves:
“I think a pertinent question worth posing is whether in fact there was any such thing as an Essene sect … There is not a single extant Palestinian or Syro-Mesopotamian Jewish writing authored in either Hebrew or Aramaic during the Achaemenid, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, or Sassanian periods which mentions an Essene sect, categorizes a tradition or practice as Essene, or employs the label Essene in a recognizable way. A superficial perusal … can leave an unwary reader with the mistaken impression that the primary sources for a scholastic reconstruction of Essene ideology are manifold and grounded on an extensive series of empirical observations and experiences. In actual fact, though, it is extremely improbable that any of the extant tradents who speak of a Jewish sect of Essenes, including our earliest authorities, Philo and Josephus, write on the basis of such knowledge. … I would like to suggest that modern scholars have been unduly credulous about the actual existence of a Jewish Essene sect. Since the era of Hecataeus and Herodotus, a popular Tendenz in classical ethnography was the description of a number of elite or secretive castes of religious and/or intellectual functionaries supposedly flourishing among various barbarian peoples who inhabited the fringes of the Greco-Roman oikoumene … members of these groups typically experience a marvelous longevity of life, they are dedicated to lives of piety and holiness, they are cultural repositories of priestly and philosophical wisdom, and they are adept in a number of useful arts, crafts, and technologies … The Essenes and Philo’s Therapeutae are clearly marketed by their publicists as the Jewish representatives of this ethnological trope … there exist a number of conceptual and thematic similarities between the descriptions provided by classical sources of the Essenes, or barbarian utopian communities, and that of [the 9th century CE] Eldad ha-Dani of the people of Moses. Yet to my knowledge no responsible post-Enlightenment thinker has ever seriously maintained that the latter group really existed, or sought to attribute any Jewish literature to their creative pens. Why then should the Essenes be so uncritically privileged?” (Reeves 2005: 380-83)
“I think a pertinent question worth posing is whether in fact there was any such thing as an Essene sect … There is not a single extant Palestinian or Syro-Mesopotamian Jewish writing authored in either Hebrew or Aramaic during the Achaemenid, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, or Sassanian periods which mentions an Essene sect, categorizes a tradition or practice as Essene, or employs the label Essene in a recognizable way. A superficial perusal … can leave an unwary reader with the mistaken impression that the primary sources for a scholastic reconstruction of Essene ideology are manifold and grounded on an extensive series of empirical observations and experiences. In actual fact, though, it is extremely improbable that any of the extant tradents who speak of a Jewish sect of Essenes, including our earliest authorities, Philo and Josephus, write on the basis of such knowledge. … I would like to suggest that modern scholars have been unduly credulous about the actual existence of a Jewish Essene sect. Since the era of Hecataeus and Herodotus, a popular Tendenz in classical ethnography was the description of a number of elite or secretive castes of religious and/or intellectual functionaries supposedly flourishing among various barbarian peoples who inhabited the fringes of the Greco-Roman oikoumene … members of these groups typically experience a marvelous longevity of life, they are dedicated to lives of piety and holiness, they are cultural repositories of priestly and philosophical wisdom, and they are adept in a number of useful arts, crafts, and technologies … The Essenes and Philo’s Therapeutae are clearly marketed by their publicists as the Jewish representatives of this ethnological trope … there exist a number of conceptual and thematic similarities between the descriptions provided by classical sources of the Essenes, or barbarian utopian communities, and that of [the 9th century CE] Eldad ha-Dani of the people of Moses. Yet to my knowledge no responsible post-Enlightenment thinker has ever seriously maintained that the latter group really existed, or sought to attribute any Jewish literature to their creative pens. Why then should the Essenes be so uncritically privileged?” (Reeves 2005: 380-83)
Doudna's questions here regarding Essenes and Herodians are referencing the theory of Joan Taylor ((2012). The Essenes, the Scrolls, and the Dead Sea. Oxford: Oxford University Press.)Greg Doudna:
Were the Essenes the result of an amnesty program by Herod as part of a two-track program for consolidation of power? (a) decapitate (execute) leaders of the former Hasmonean regimes. (b) offer amnesty and benefits to lower-level regime members who enrolled to become “the Essenes” (aka “Herodians”)?
While I find Taylor's theory lacking - Essenes = Herodians - I did find Taylor's explanation of the character of Philo's Essenes of particular interest:
Joan Taylor
We are here in the world of Philo’s lush imagery: the Essenes are not in their daily living
behaving as priests offering animal sacrifices to God in the Temple, and yet
they are truly God’s ministers by continually offering the spiritual sacrifice of
their minds. This is what other Jews find so impressive. Page 29.
As such, the Essenes are immediately placed in a category that Philo deems
ultimately good in terms of the human relationship to the Divine. The
language reflects Philo’s imagery of using the processes of cult to point to
alternate, more spiritual, methods of serving God. Philo did not mean to
invalidate the importance of the Jerusalem Temple cult by this imagery, only
to insist on the superiority of spiritual sacrifice. Page 31.
We are here in the world of Philo’s lush imagery: the Essenes are not in their daily living
behaving as priests offering animal sacrifices to God in the Temple, and yet
they are truly God’s ministers by continually offering the spiritual sacrifice of
their minds. This is what other Jews find so impressive. Page 29.
As such, the Essenes are immediately placed in a category that Philo deems
ultimately good in terms of the human relationship to the Divine. The
language reflects Philo’s imagery of using the processes of cult to point to
alternate, more spiritual, methods of serving God. Philo did not mean to
invalidate the importance of the Jerusalem Temple cult by this imagery, only
to insist on the superiority of spiritual sacrifice. Page 31.
Are not Philo's Essenes simply 'men of the mind'? Not a specific utopian Jewish grouping (that's just the pseudo-historical context in which Philo placed them). Is not Philo dealing with the intellectual life and how that life is, not re Taylor superior, but a vital element in human functioning and flourishing?
Yes, Josephus develops the Essenes - making them prophets. Again, an intellectual development. Josephus has an Essene, John, as a 'man of war'. The Essenes not being historical, this would be an intellectual not a political development - intellectual 'warfare' being part of Pauline philosophy/theology.
And the NT? No Essenes by name - but a Pauline philosophy/theology of a spiritual sacrifice...and spiritual/intellectual warfare...
Thus, if Philo's Essenes are viewed as 'men of the mind' the connection to Pauline philosophy/theology becomes evident. Perhaps all that Philo is saying with his philosophical Essenes is that during his lifetime a new intellectual development/movement took place...
