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orion Re: from a bully and obscurantist



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Dear Mr. Gorenson--

perhaps it really would be better if you maintained radio silence for a bit
and tried to regain your equilibrium. You yourself requested falsification
of your etymology of the word "Essene", and I supplied it, not that that
was either new or difficult to do. You have a curious habit of attacking
people who disagree with you rather than debating the issues, and I find
this disheartening in one who professes to pursue the scholarly life.
Scholarship is more than just advocacy of one´s point of view; in theory,
there is dialogue involved. I have no objection to discussion becoming
heated; it would be remarkable if a scholar, having invested his or her
personal resources for considerable time in the investigation of a given
question, wasn´t willing to fight for his views. But to stoop to ad hominem
assaults on the character and motives of one´s opponents...will hardly be
the way to get others to participate in the discussion. 
I think all of us have gathered, by now, that you think the Essenes wrote
the Scrolls, dwelled in the site, and were part of a large sectarian
movement. Any chance of your allowing other views to be expressed?

Frederick H. Cryer
Assoc. Prof. for Research
Univ. of Copenhagen
Faculty of Theology
Købmagergade 44-46
1150 København K.
e-mail: fc.dss@pop.teol.ku.dk
fax: (045) 35 32 36 52