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Re: orion Cave 7 Fragments

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Vernon Chadwick wrote:

> Have any of the fragments discovered in cave 7 been subject to C14
> dating?
> The predominantly Greek texts seem almost out of place amongst the
> finds in
> the nearby caves.  I do not think that O'Callaghan's claims of
> possible New
> Testament fragments have been disproven yet and wonder if any scholar
> has
> done any extensive research on the Cave 7 finds.

    Although 7Q5 is intriguing, identification with Mk 6:52-53 rests
solely on
a paucity of words.  If O'Callaghan's "Qumran New Testament" were only
7Q5, some serious discussion among scholars could be appropriate with
reference to alternative possibilities..but O'Callaghan lost me with his

claims of 7Q7 (Acts 27:38); 7Q10 (2 Peter 1:15); 7Q4 (1 Tim 3:16-4:3).
Christian writings in DSS has been fodder for conspiracy stories for
years
in spite of the obvious anachronism.  2 Peter hails from the early 2nd
century
CE and given the latest possible date of deposit, a "Mark fragment"
would have
to be the autograph.

    I do not discount that many Essenes may have joined the N'tzarim
camp
but neither the Essenes nor the N'tzarim were Christians and whatever
writings
both groups held dear would be indistinguishable, IMO, from most of the
"Enochian/apocalyptic/messianic" writings we find in the DSS..or from
such texts as the T12P or the WisSol...but 2 Peter?  Naaaah!  To me,
that would
be like finding fragments of Das Kapital in Voltaire's library.

Jack


--
D^Òman dith laych idneh d^ÒnishMA nishMA
   Jack Kilmon (jpman@accesscomm.net)


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