Conference
on the role of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Nag Hammadi codices on Judaism and
Christianity Koot van Wyk (Short Notes)
The
Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in 1947 already but three times before in
history: in the time of Origen, and in the time of the Karaite sect around 811.
The Nag
Hammadi Coptic codices are from Egypt and gives us insights in Christianity and
Judaism of a period around the fourth century A.D. A
conference just finished in Berlin and I could not attend. The organizers were
D. M. Burns and M. Goff et al. Here
I will give some short notes as to what I think about the themes touched upon
at the conference. In
Session 1 they had the umbrella “Biblical Figures and Exegesis” which for the
Dead Sea Scrolls is just the same as it is for the biblical figures and
exegesis of scholarship at Ptolemaic Alexandria. One can compare the use and
abuse of Homer’s Iliad at Alexandria with what happened to the Dead Sea Scrolls
at the same time. P. M. Fraser in 1972 did a great work on this library and its
scholarship and scholars are still operating with the Dead Sea Scrolls in a
vacuum not relating it to what was happening to the Classics of Greek literature
also. Brevity tendencies, rewriting,
recasting, new creations, Paraphrasing. What do we need more to say? Long texts
and short texts. George
Brooke (University of Manchester), “From Adam to the Prophets: Some Biblical
Figures in the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Nag Hammadi Library” 9:45–10:15 He
is a famous scholar who has participated in a number of books and articles on
the Septuagint and its editions. What one would expect from Brooke is that he
will show how the truth of the Masoretic consonantal text without the vowels
have been misconstrued by the Dead Sea Scrolls in line with Ptolemaic
Scholarship requirements at Alexandria and also developed with influences from
Buddhism and Stoicism and other mystic religions of paganism into the Nag
Hammadi corpus. The book of Revelation said that the first horse was white
representing the pure church of Christ’s time until the end of the canon in 96
CE. But then followed the great deception and from that time the pure church
had been contaminated. It would go worse as Constantine amalgamated paganism
and the Christian Church with Judaism also somewhere in between. Shani
Tzoref (Universität Potsdam), “Wisdom, Folly, and Zion in the Qumran Corpus:
Towards an Evolutionary Analysis of Feminine Conceptualizations?” 10:15–10:45 Does
the author want to show that there was an increase feministic role at Qumran or
a concept of increase importance of the female at Qumran? Feminism as a
phenomenon was since ancient times. It went side by side with LGBTQH tendencies
and there is actually a book on Cuneiform texts and this subject written in
German. I have mentioned it a number of times in my writings. Jezebel was a
highpriestess of the Baal temple so that her role in Israel and Judah affairs
of her time is part of the role of the woman in society upbeat. Tuomas
Rasimus (Université Laval), “Temple and Sacrifice in Qumran and Nag Hammadi” 10:45–11:15
The
temple and sacrifice at Qumran would be in mixed messages. It would deviate
from the consonantal text of the Masoretic tradition in some texts but it would
also point out the spiritual aspect of these institutions in other texts in
line with the Bible. This is a very important lecture and the Book of Hebrews
in the New Testament and its understanding of these subjects are important to
sandwich proper understanding in a continuum of slicing of time zones of discussion:
150 BCE; 50 CE and 390 CE. The destruction of the temple and sacrifices in
70-73 A.D. would affect the narratives of the Nag Hammadi codices on the topic.
SESSION
2 Textual Discoveries and Conceptions of Canon Moderator:
Hugo Lundhaug 13:30–14:00 The
word “canon” for modern skeptics and scientists has a lucid and loose meaning.
It is flexible, adaptable and changing. They use the Dead Sea Scrolls to prove
that but in fact, as my dissertation was set out to do, failed in doing so
since there are evidence of strict copying of the consonantal text of the
Masoretic tradition of Daniel in 4QDana up to 99.9% in exactitude, so that a
theory that everything goes or everything was alright as Emmanuel Tov tried to
claim in his 1992 book on Textual Criticism, stands under review. The
canon was still the exact consonantal text of the Masoretic tradition in both
Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek but what was differing is that there was a
degenerative trend in scholarship at the Dead Sea Scrolls typical also at the
Ptolemaic Library in Alexandria as P. M Fraser in his classical work indicated
for Homer’s Iliad. Jens
Schröter (HumboldtUniversität zu Berlin), “The Biblical Canons after Qumran and
Nag Hammadi: Some Preliminary Observations” 14:00–14:30 What
Schröter was supposed to point out is that after 100 CE, in line with the
prediction of John in Revelation 1-2 that the white horse will be replaced with
other colors thus the fall from the truth. Falling from the truth, the canon
would have been enlarged to include tradition as well. It is not biblical
canons but apocryphical and pseudogryphical additions to the Bible or even
replacements in usage. Andrew
Perrin (Trinity Western University), “Expression of Pseudepigraphy in the
Qumran Aramaic Fragments and First Impressions in the Nag Hammadi Codices”
14:30–15:00 Perrin
was supposed to indicate that pseudepigraphy was present at Qumran since it was
a degenerative corpus of books, full of slips of all kinds, full of paraphrasing,
full of shortening of the text or creating new on the basis of the old like the
extra Psalm 151. The Nag Hammadi Codices will do the same since the power
struggles of the 3rd century church has also affected the corpus of
Nag Hammadi. Christoph
Markschies (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin), “Finding Stories: A Literary
Critique of Certain Themes in the Story of the Finding of the Nag Hammadi
Codices” 15:00–15:30 This
is an interesting lecture that would have highlighted conflicting testimonies
as to the discovery of texts. SESSION
3 Mythic Geography and Heavenly Journeys Moderator:
Dylan M. Burns 15:45–16:15 In
this category they would touch upon the role of eschatology and Utopia at these
two sites. Kelley
Coblentz Bautch (St. Edwards University), “The Visionary’s View: Otherworldly
Motifs and their Use/Reuse in Texts of Qumran and Nag Hammadi” 16:15–16:45 There
will be a reuse of Old Testament texts like Daniel and the great prophets like
Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezechiel in the Dead Sea Scrolls to outline the coming of
the Messiah in line with the prediction of Daniel 9:24-27 that was predicting
Jesus to come. One would increasingly get hints in that direction in the
corpus. After Christ came, the Nag Hammadi as a mixture between Buddhism,
paganism, Gnosticism, Christianity and Judaism would harp on the same theme
utilizing the same texts but adapting it to the 3rd century CE
degeneration of views. Florentina
Badalanova Gellar (Freie Universität Berlin), “Enochic Cosmographic Templates
(the case of Slavia Orthodoxa)” 16:45–17:15 Enoch
went alive to heaven in the consonantal text of the Masoretic tradition and the
New Testament. But there were creative writings trying to elaborate on the
sparsity of information regarding this figure. Her lecture would utilize the
Dead Sea and Nag Hammadi but seemingly focus on Orthodoxism’s view of this
pseudepigrapha and apocryphical texts. It is not the Bible and not the canon of
the Bible but the modified degenerative mixture of truth of God’s revelation
with alterior motives and ideas. SESSION
4 Messiahs and Revealer-Saviors Moderator:
Lorenzo DiTommaso 9:00–9:30 Messiahs
and Saviors came to the fore in their false and fake pursuit of the predicted
and expected in the consonantal text of the Masoretic Tradition. Did people not
call Obama and Mandela Saviors and Messiahs? It is that easy. So there would be
a Messiah expectation in the Dead Sea Scrolls and the surprising thing is that
some ideas would overlap with what John, Jesus, Paul, Peter and James had to
say on the topic. Hans LaRondelle in his dissertation on Perfection in the 1970’s
touched upon the same theme. Judith
Hartenstein (Universität Koblenz-Landau), “Jesus as Revealer-Savior in Gospels
from Nag Hammadi and the Human Recipients of the Revelation” 9:30–10:00 This
is a very interesting topic and it would be a squeezing out of the gospels tiny
bits for their own potion of the 3rd century pagan/Judaism/Christianity/Buddhism/Gnosticism
mixture of theology. Harold
W. Attridge (Yale University), “Revealers and Revelation from Qumran through
the Fourth Gospel to Nag Hammadi” 10:00–10:30 It
is also an interesting topic since the time of the Messiah to come predicted in
Daniel 9:24-27 with the 490 years kicking off in 457 BCE was known to Qumran
authors. It is embedded in the New Testament as well with Paul’s regular phrase
that “when the time came….” Jesus was born or died or the same. SESSION
5 Enochic Literature at Qumran and Nag Hammadi Moderator:
Tuomas Rasimus 10:45–11:15 The
Enoch literature was apocryphical creations similarly as such creations were
done for the classical literature of Greece at the Ptolemaic Library of
Alexandria. New Creations from inspiration of old literature or templates. Claudia
Losekam (Ruhr-Universität Bochum), “Enochic Literature as an Interpretative
Pattern in Gnostic Texts?” 11:15–11:45 Of
course the creative literature with a biblical personality or name attached to
the paganistic frame would be serving as a pattern or template for the creation
of Gnostic texts in the 3rd century CE in Egypt in the Coptic texts
there. Matthew
Goff (Florida State University), “It Didn’t Happen the Way Moses Said it Did:
Exegesis, Creativity, and Enochic Traditions in Nag Hammadi Texts” 11:45–12:15 This
is quite an arrogant statement. Does Goff want to take Nag Hammadi degenerative
texts to upleft them as the sole truth and everything before should be brushed
under the carpet as garbage, including the reality and truths of the historical
Moses? Does he not have a sense of paganism mixtures that happened after
Constantine and also at Nag Hammadi? SESSION
1 The Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice (led by Dr. Shani Tzoref) 15:00–15:15 It
is not clear what they were reading here. SESSION
6 Apocalypticism and Eschatology Moderator:
René Falkenberg 15:15–15:45 For
Qumran this topic is very relevant. Qumran did not create eschatology. It was
embedded by God in the Word since Moses. They just put the mosaic together in
order to suggest a scenario, a situation that is also prevalent in the New Testament
eschatology of Jesus, John the Baptist, Paul, John and James. Dylan
M. Burns (Freie Universität Berlin), “Determinism and Compatibilism at Qumran
and Nag Hammadi” 15:45–16:15 It
is of course the case that Burns will find evidence of the role of God’s
leading at Qumran and at Nag Hammadi. If the end of time is near then one must
expect that God will be involved in order to get the End nearer and happened. Jörg
Frey (Universität Zürich), “The Impact of Qumran and Nag Hammadi Discoveries on
New Testament Scholarship: The Examples of Dualism and Eschatology” 16:15–16:45
Frey
would focus on good and evil at Qumran and Nag Hammadi. What is strange is for
him to talk about the impact of Nag Hammadi on New Testament scholarship.
Qumran was a place where John the Baptist, Paul and Peter and even John may
have gone to and shared their views there in a tank of same exegesis and
understanding, but Nag Hammadi since the 3rd century CE is a bit
remote. Lorenzo
DiTommaso (Concordia University), “Epistemology and Eschatology, Apocalyptic
and Gnostic” 16:45–17:15 These
four terms are very important for a proper understanding of Qumran and Nag
Hammadi and even the New Testament. Gnostic in the New Testament is not what
the Greeks were making it out to be. The other three terms are fine for an
investigation in the New Testament. The role of gnosis in John 1 is not up for
comparison or Paul’s dualism as Rudolph Bultmann also investigated. SESSION
7 Qumran, Nag Hammadi, and Manichaeism Moderator:
Kelley Coblentz Bautch 9:00–9:30 Non-biblical
movements at Qumran, Nag Hammadi are compared here and that is very relevant
since it fits in what I was saying about the role of paganism and Christianity
at that time. René
Falkenberg (Aarhus Universitet), “Revelation Books and Tablets in Jewish and
Manichaean Contexts” 9:30–10:00 This
subject will just supply us with the data to prove the fall from the truth as
Revelation 1 indicated and predicted with the next horse after the white one as
not white any longer, colored with paganism and fake. READING
SESSION 2 The Three Steles of Seth (led by Dylan M. Burns) 11:30–13:00 SESSION
8 Re-evaluation of the Scribes of our Corpora Moderator: Shani Tzoref
13:00–13:30 Hugo
Lundhaug (Universitet i Oslo), “Material Philology and the Nag Hammadi Codices”
13:30–14:00 This
will be a very interesting study since it will attempt to look at loanwords at
Nag Hammadi. Eibert
Tigchelaar (Leuven University), “New Approaches to the Scribes of the Dead Sea
Scrolls” 14:00–14:30 What
the plan is here is not certain but it will be interested to see what he did
with M. Martin 1958 study on Qumran Isaiah a and b.