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  • From: "Karl P. Donfried" <kdonfrie AT email.smith.edu>
  • To: Corpus-paul <corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: Sanders and the "New" Perspective
  • Date: Thu, 26 Jul 2001 09:42:21 -0400



Dear Mark and Loren,

Thanks very much. Allow me to address the note to both you and others
who may wish to comment.

First, allow me to repeat my question whether there are major criticisms
of “the new perspective” on Paul (i.e. Sanders, Dunn) out there in
addition to Neusner and Fitzmyer. That would be helpful to know. Can
anyone cite such literature? Thanks in advance

Second, I do have difficulty in accepting the positions of Sanders and
Dunn in these matters given the texts from the DDS, which I consider to
be a primary witness to a form of Second Temple Judaism than the far
later, often Talmudic texts, that Sanders employs. There is the
disturbing fact that Sanders section on “The Dead Sea Scrolls” follows
his discussion of the “Tannaitic Literature” thus suggesting that this
considerably later material predates the Dead Sea Scrolls. This
problematic portrayal of late Second Century Judaism is concisely
summarized by Joseph Fitzmyer: “What a picture of first-century
‘Palestinian Judaism’ emerges!”

Third, I find it likely that the Pauline phrase “works of the law”
(e¶rga no/mou) can best be understood in light of the parallel phrase in
4QMMT. It has been correctly stated that this Pauline phrase has no
parallel in the Jewish Bible. Close, but not exact, is the use of the
noun hCom (“deed”) in Ex 18:20: “teach them the statutes and
instructions and make known to them the way they are to go and the deed
they are to do.” Referring to similar ideas, Num 15:39 and Deut 16:12,
30:8 use alternative terms, twwxm (“commandments”) and Myqwj (“laws”).
However, the parallel phrase to Paul’s e¶rga no/mou is found in the
Qumran texts. In 4QMMT C27 one reads hrwtj yCom txqm (“some deeds of
the law”), in 4QMMT C 30-31 the emphasis falls on the correct practice
of these deeds (“in your deed (KtwCob) you may be reckoned as
righteous”) and in 1QS 5:21 and 6:18 one finds the phrase hrwtb wyCom
(“his deeds in the law”). It is not unimportant to recognize that the
yahad does not use the typical Pharisaic language, twqlj or twwxm, yet
appears to be fully aware of this terminology in creating the clever
turn of phrase, twqlj yCrd, “seekers of smooth things” (4Q 169:3-4). Of
course, the scrolls there are other variations of the theme hrwt twCol.

Fourth, it is necessary to more sharply distinguish the different
tendencies in Second Temple Judaism as does Shemaryahu Talmon.
Shemaryahu Talmon, who prefers to call the group reflected in the
scrolls by their own self-description, viz., as the Community of the
Renewed Covenant or, simply as the ya-had understands this Community of
the Renewed Covenant as a "third- or second-century crystallization of a
major socio-religious movement which arose in the early post-exilic
Judaism…. The development of the movement runs parallel to that of the
competing ratio-nalist stream which first surfaces in the book of Ezra,
and especially in the book of Nehemiah, and will ultimately crystallize
in Rabbinic or normative Judaism." And, he adds, that the "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." One might well question the so-called “new perspective’s”
view of the diversity of Second Temple JudaismS.

Your further comments would be welcome.

Karl




"Mark D. Nanos" wrote:
>
> on 7/25/01 4:38 PM, Karl P. Donfried at kdonfrie AT email.smith.edu wrote:
>
> > In light of Qumran, specifically 4Q MMT, would members of our list
> > continue to maintain that a beneficial way of understanding late Second
> > Temple Judaism is via such categories as “covenantal nomism” and
> > “boundary markers”? In light of Fitzmyer and others work on “deeds of
> > the law” in the DSS, would many still agree with Jimmy Dunn’s assertion,
> > in discussing this phrase in Galatians, that what “…Paul himself was
> > protesting was not individual human effort, but the assumption that
> > ethnic origin and identity is a factor in determining the grace of God
> > and its expression” (Theol of Galatians, 1993, 143)?
>
> Yes Karl,
> I would, although I would qualify the case differently, and disagree with
> Dunn about what is signified (so where does that leave me?) Anyway, I
> certainly do not think the phrase for Paul has to do with "individual human
> effort." Do you? If so, in what way do you think it means this for the
> writer of 4QMMT or Paul?
> Regards,
> Mark
> --
> Mark D. Nanos, Ph.D.
> 313 NE Landings Dr.
> Lee's Summit, MO 64064
> USA
> nanosmd AT home.com
>
> ---
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--


Karl P. Donfried
Elizabeth A. Woodson Professor
of Religion and Biblical Literature
Neilson Library A10
Smith College
Northampton, MA 01063

kdonfrie AT smith.edu
413 585-3669 (phone)
413 256-6202 (fax)




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