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Re: orion-list Kuhn and Popper



Dear Stephen,

>  Brief responses. Please read the latest JBL, where Golb's assertion (and
>  yours) of Qumran "consensus" and Kuhnian paradigm change is clearly and
>  plainly refuted.

    In none of my postings did I use the word "consensus".  There is a 
difference between consensus and paradigm.  Nor did I define the expression 
"reigning paradigm" as your post suggests.  A field in which there exists a 
reigning paradigm is not necessarily one in which that paradigm is not 
criticized and debated.  For instance, the Essene Hypothesis is one element 
of the current dominant paradigm, but a number of scholars have put forward 
various criticisms and alternate theories.  Have any one of these theories 
garnered support comparable to the Essene Hypothesis?  No.  The expression 
reigning paradigm is approximately equivalent to your expression "relative 
consensus".  Both allow for the existence of debate and dissenting views.

>  You suggest Vermes, Puech, Stegemann, Murphy-O'Connor et al. have quiety
>  conceded defeat of Jonathan as wicked priest. Are we talking about the same
>  people? :-)

    I made no such suggestion.  But my subjective impression is that their 
views no longer have the support they once did.  Their ideas are seldom 
appealed to in current articles.  (J. VanderKam is one of the few figures 
today actively arguing Jonathan as wicked priest.)  I think the idea of 
Qumran as founded c. 140 BCE is pretty much dead.

>  You recommended we read G. Doudna's book on pNah as linked with events in
>  63 BCE, yet you announce that pNah actually refers to events exactly one
>  century earlier. Do I have that straight?

    Greg Doudna's "4Q Pesher Nahum:  A Critical Edition", scheduled to be 
printed out of Sheffield in 2001, is a very important book, both in its 
improved reading of the physical text and in its analysis of basic content.  
I am basically postponing the publication of my own analysis of pNah so that 
I can take advantage of his many important contributions on this key text.  
Our points of agreement and difference should be apparent after we're both in 
print.

    Best regards,
    Russell Gmirkin
For private reply, e-mail to RGmyrken@aol.com
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