Dead on the Water

Dead on the Water
I've seen a number of documentaries about the Dead Sea Scrolls now, but the one that stands out for me is the Riddle of the Dead Sea Scrolls from around 1990, featuring Barbara Thiering's 'pesher' technique of drawing specific references from general ones according to symbolic interpretation. I don't agree with her findings, however. She claims that the scrolls refer to Jesus Christ and John the Baptist as adversaries: the Wicked Priest and the Teacher of Righteousness, respectively. While this sensational thought might attract sponsors for her work, most scholars insist that her sources are all from a century before Jesus was born. It's true that these figures bear an uncanny resemblance, at least within the framework of Hebrew zealots of the period who insisted on strict adherence to the countless laws of Moses and would have viewed anyone, including Jesus, as 'wicked' for dismissing them, but my guess is that both Jesus and John simply had predecessors in the first century BCE. Who were they? God only knows. There were so many at that time.

Nonetheless, I found that I learned the most about the Dead Sea Scrolls from her presentation, even in the process of her coming to the wrong conclusions. It's more fun to learn about the Dead Sea Scrolls if there is some promise of finding out more about the real life of Jesus from them. For instance, her very detailed descriptions of zealot rites and rituals come through loud and clear when she applies them to explain the miracles of walking on water and changing water into wine. It's an effective way to hammer home the ancient background information in the minds of modern Christians - and, perhaps, to sell a book. Also, she is at least on the right track by approaching the scriptures with a suitable crypt analysis.

Aug 20/21: Just one possibly humorous note: these scholars always want to back up their theories with references from banned gospels. Thiering tried to do this with a passage from the 'Gospel of Philip' at the end of her argument, while another quoted to the 'Gospel of Thomas' at the end of his presentation. Perhaps this was not necessary, for we already know that theories which threaten to turn Christianity on its head would be supported by banned gospels.
  
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© 2021. Statements by David Skerkowski. All rights reserved.

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