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corpus-paul - Re: Sanders and the "New" Perspective (Galatians 2:14-21 and 4QMMT)

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  • From: "Roy E. Ciampa" <roy_ciampa AT compuserve.com>
  • To: "Corpus-paul" <corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: Sanders and the "New" Perspective (Galatians 2:14-21 and 4QMMT)
  • Date: Sun, 29 Jul 2001 15:49:23 +0100


Karl,

Yours is an interesting argument based on what Chaim Perelman calls the
dissociation of ideas. I don't think your dichotomy between "descriptive
legal precepts resulting from study and legislation" and "prescriptive
observance of the Law" and your attributing the former to rabbinic halakha
and the latter to the scrolls is
quite fair to either sets of literature. Would the authors of the Mishnah
be happy with the suggestion that their work was merely descriptive and did
not deal with prescriptive observance of the Law? I doubt it. And I
suspect the authors of 4QMMT would be insulted by the suggestion that their
document was not a result of study and authoritative decision (since the
document contains a list of legal rulings made by the recognized authorities
of the community and exhorts its readers to carefully study the Law of Moses
to confirm the truth of its teachings). The Mishnah was authoritative (and
the result of legal rulings made) for the community led by it's authors.
4QMMT was authoritative (and reflects legal rulings made) for the community
led by ITS authors.

You refer to the Judaisms of the Second Temple Period, and in the sense that
rabbinic Judaism reflects a period with much less diversity, where one
group's halakha holds for the vast majority of Jews it's position is
somewhat different from any halakha of the Second Temple Period. But I
don't see how the basic idea is very different. If we define halakha as
being exactly (and only) that which we find in rabbinic literature then, by
definition, we do not find that in any other literature. If, on the other
hand, halakha is understood to be the authoritative exposition of the Law of
Moses which is given by the leaders of the Jewish community for the sake of
the purity and careful obedience of that community, it seems to me that
4QMMT fits the bill.

Both delineate the proper interpretation and the law so that the readership
might properly observe the same. While the Mishnah describes the positions
of various rabbis and explains the majority position, 4QMMT simply expounds
the position of the authors (which seems to assume a knowledge of contrary
positions). Clearly the authors of 4QMMT based their position on careful
study of the Law, and they explain some of the thinking behind their
positions in the document (perceived parallels between the structure of the
tabernacle and the Temple and city of Jerusalem, etc.). the Several
articles have been written on the subject of the halakha reflected in 4QMMT
(and other Qumran literature) despite the fact that the word does not appear
the document(s). Referring to the document at hand Qimron tells us that in
"most of the halakhot there are allusions to the biblical passages on which
the particular halakha is based. Some words from each biblical parallel
occur in the halakha of MMT...." (DJD X 136). The quote supports both my
assertion that the document consists of halakhot and that those halakhot are
indeed based on careful study of the Law of Moses. Because they recognized
the halakhic nature of the document, Qimron and Strugnell invited Y.
Sussmann to contribute his appendix on "The History of the Halakha and the
Dead Sea Scrolls." I do not think these and other halakhic scholars have
misunderstood the nature of this document. (I do think, however, that
Sussmann's study tends to imply that the rabbinic halakha always reflected
some sort of normative or orthodox position and does not reflect my
understanding of the multiform nature of Second Temple Judaism.)

[First thing Monday morning my family and I are flying from Lisbon to Boston
and then will be unpacking, settling in for a few days. It may be a couple
of days before I can check in again. Time to finish packing my bags!]

Roy Ciampa
--------------------------------------------------
Dr. Roy E. Ciampa
IBP-ESETE
Rua Castelo Picão, 13
2670 Sto. Antão do Tojal
Portugal

Tel:

+351 (21) 982 1319 (home/casa)
+351 (21) 974 9047 (office/gabinete)
+351 (91) 974 0151 (cell/TM)

E-mail:

RoyCiampa AT mail.telepac.pt
Roy_Ciampa AT compuserve.com


Karl P. Donfried wrote:

Roy,

The use of halakot in the rabbinic literature considerably latter than
the DSS carries with it presuppositions that I do not find evident in
the scrolls. Talmon comments that "yahad's final dissent from the
emerging brand of Pharisaic Judaism at the turn of the era constitutes
the climax of the lengthy confrontation of these two streams [i.e. the
prophetic and the rationalist]." Is it not anachronistic to emphasize
in Second Temple Judaisms descriptive legal precepts resulting from
study and legislation over against prescriptive observance of the Law?
As Qimron has remarked "MMT deals with the observance of commandments,
not with the manner in which they are deduced." (DJD X 133n23) and that
strikes me as a significant difference between the scrolls and the
substantially later rabbinic materials. As a result I find no evidence
whatsoever to support your concluding statement: "I think 4QMMT (and
Galatians 2?) is evidence that before the terminology of
halakha/halakhot was clearly established the same type of material was
called, by some groups at least, 'works of the Law.'" Part of the
problem that I have with Sanders and Dunn is that they are creating a
description of Second Temple Judaisms which do not exist within the time
frame of those Judaisms.

Karl

Roy

--------------------------------------------------
Dr. Roy E. Ciampa
IBP-ESETE
Rua Castelo Picão, 13
2670 Sto. Antão do Tojal
Portugal

Tel:

+351 (21) 982 1319 (home/casa)
+351 (21) 974 9047 (office/gabinete)
+351 (91) 974 0151 (cell/TM)

E-mail:

RoyCiampa AT mail.telepac.pt
Roy_Ciampa AT compuserve.com









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