Wow.... I didn't know we had a TimOneil around here, too!
Welcome!
A catholic guy was just saying on another thread you debunked the possibility that part of the canonical life of jesus was... borrowed... from the Teacher of righteous described in the Dead sea scrolls.
He seems to think very highly of your knowledge of the ancient world, so I guess you are some sort of authority on the matter, huh?
In my ignorance, all I got going for the "claim of borrowing" is the wiki article on the teacher where a guy named Wise claims that the scrolls present a picture of a messiah that rattled the established religious leaders and got crucified as a result... there's also a mentioning that his followers expected that "the Teacher would return to judge the wicked and lead the righteous into a golden age, and that it would take place within the next forty years." This return never happened, obviously... but it is reminiscent of how christians are waiting for their messiah to return... at first, it would be within their lifetimes (close to the 40 years).... then it became "soon"... it's been "soon" for 2000 years, and counting.
How does your scholarship on the subject analyze this possibility of borrowing of a theme?
Was it a common theme for supposed messiahs to pop up, disturb the clergy, get whacked and have a following anticipating their return from the dead within some large portion of time? ("large", in comparison with the average life expectancy, which, at the time, was... what?... 40? 45?)
Or was Wise just full of crap and desiring his own reading of the scrolls to debunk christianity?
Welcome!
A catholic guy was just saying on another thread you debunked the possibility that part of the canonical life of jesus was... borrowed... from the Teacher of righteous described in the Dead sea scrolls.
He seems to think very highly of your knowledge of the ancient world, so I guess you are some sort of authority on the matter, huh?
In my ignorance, all I got going for the "claim of borrowing" is the wiki article on the teacher where a guy named Wise claims that the scrolls present a picture of a messiah that rattled the established religious leaders and got crucified as a result... there's also a mentioning that his followers expected that "the Teacher would return to judge the wicked and lead the righteous into a golden age, and that it would take place within the next forty years." This return never happened, obviously... but it is reminiscent of how christians are waiting for their messiah to return... at first, it would be within their lifetimes (close to the 40 years).... then it became "soon"... it's been "soon" for 2000 years, and counting.
How does your scholarship on the subject analyze this possibility of borrowing of a theme?
Was it a common theme for supposed messiahs to pop up, disturb the clergy, get whacked and have a following anticipating their return from the dead within some large portion of time? ("large", in comparison with the average life expectancy, which, at the time, was... what?... 40? 45?)
Or was Wise just full of crap and desiring his own reading of the scrolls to debunk christianity?
