Essenes

In theological research of The Christian Community and in anthroposophical circles, there is a tendency to follow the chronology of John rather than the synoptics. Questioning this tendency initially, this paper follows research by Andrew Welburn, Emil Bock, Rudolf Steiner and others on Essenism and Gnosticism to understand the re-emergence of mystery initiations in Palestine before the christian era and the significance of initiation, death and resurrection for christianity, tracing the independent mystery traditions of each of the four gospels and ending cautiously in favour of the historical accuracy of the second half of John's gospel.

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The period between the Old Testament and the New Testament is usually called as the Intertestamental period. It was a time in which many of the theological ideas and religious practices found in their New Testament were developed. One of the religious groups that emerged in the Intertestamental period was the “Essenes.” In this paper, I would like to bring out the brief history of Essenes community, their religious beliefs, politics, life style, and contributions with reference to present day context.

Hallelujah!

The last pages of the Essene Academy textbook used at the Salt Sea academy of the Essene priesthood
has been made available online thru archive.org,
where several of my manuscripts are made available right now.

At the risk of copyright concerns, I share it with you, 30 years afterwards.
It is useful to point out that the 2nd Vatican Council was denied the privilege of publicizing the Essene roles in defining Christianity. 

Alas, our people sit in the dark of Plato's cave, instead of the light of the Essene day.

There is something to the idea that Jesus was supposed to bring THIS to the world, nearly raised up to be the leader of a restored Essene educational institution and worldwide priesthood.
For one reason or another, he did a super nova chess move instead.  The exiled apostles and Gnostics at Antioch and the Clementine Gnostics of Philippi nearly reached that major goal, yet fell short of accepting the canonical scripture into the canon whatsoever, in a blatant move by the church to hold Jesus and the church in limbo. 
It might be said that it was really close to actually manifesting the real deal for Jesus and the Essenes, etc.

The wisdom of the Essenes and the 19 chapters of the Book of the Wisdom of Solomon,  appear to be a work in progress on a third Book of Proverbs.

The decyphered numbering codes of the ancient Levitical scribes helps put the pieces of the puzzle pyramid together, and the author makes some educated guesses at missing lines and incorrect words.  All italicized bracketed text is new research, fit for critiquqe or sincere suggestion.


(The Book of Sirach is 2nd Proverbs, of course, said to be written by Solomon's court, not Sirach.)

For centuries scholars have grappled with the fact that many of the Shakespearean characters are members of the Bassano family, but few have considered them as serious candidates for the dramatists of the Shakespearean works, until I released Shakespeare Exhumed: The Bassano Chronicles in 2013. In the lead up to the release of Genesis of the Shakespeare Works in early 2017, I thought it was time to release a paper containing some of my research into the Bassano family gathered over the last 14 years while forensically examining many thousands of relevant documents throughout the world.

This book offers a novel approach for the study of law in the Judean Desert Scrolls, using the prism of legal theory. Following a couple of decades of scholarly consensus withdrawing from the "Essene hypothesis," it proposes to revive the term, and suggests employing it for the sectarian movement as a whole, while considering the group that lived in Qumran as the Yahad. It further proposes a new suggestion for the emergence of the Yahad, based on the roles of the Examiner and the Instructor in the two major legal codes, the Damascus Document and the Community Rule.

The understanding of Essene law is divided into concepts and practices, in order to emphasize the discrepancy between creed, rhetoric, and practices. The abstract exploration of notions such as time, space, obligation, intention, and retribution, is then compared against the realities of social practices, including admission, initiation, covenant, leadership, reproof, and punishment.

The legal analysis yields several new suggestions for the study of the scrolls: first, Amihay proposes to rename the two strands of thought of Jewish law, formerly referred to as "nominalism" and "realism," with the terms "legal essentialism" and "legal formalism." The two laws of admission in the Community Rule are distinguished as two different laws, one of an association for a group as a whole, the other as an admission of an individual. The law of reproof is proven to be an independent legal procedure, rather than a preliminary stage of prosecution. The methodological division in this study of thought and practice provides a nuanced approach for the study of law in general, and religious law in particular.

INÍCIO OS MANUSCRITOS DO MAR MORTO EVENTOS E LANÇAMENTOS BIOGRAFIA CONTATO Fernando Mattiolli Vieira Os marcos historiográficos internacionais O progresso das pesquisas em nível mundial esteve sujeito a determinadas conjunturas que retardaram ou aceleraram as publicações dos manuscritos e, consequentemente, a produção bibliográfica ao longo desses 70 anos. Entre a data da descoberta e a década de 1950, as publicações dos manuscritos foram resultantes de projetos bastante particulares, sob os auspícios e com pouca interferência de instituições públicas e privadas. Tal liberdade concedida aos pesquisadores foi determinante para que os textos centrais da coleção de Qumran, um dos sítios arqueológicos do mar Morto, encontrados na caverna 1, tivessem sido publicados todos já na década de 1950. Deve-se destacar aí o nome do arqueólogo da Universidade Hebraica de Jerusalém, Eliezer Lipa

RE: Facades, illusions & ideological concepts created & promoted by ancient royalty out of necessity; effective creation of an alternate version of reality. It is only by knowing this information that the true nature of ancient texts may be understood correctly. Not knowing, means making incorrect assumptions & conclusions. Important!

The study of the legal texts found among the Dead Sea Scrolls benefits from a theoretical framework that is informed by contemporary legal scholarship. This dissertation undertakes a shift from the comparative approach, which focuses on parallels from either early Christian or early rabbinic sources, through exploration of four theoretical concepts: legal essentialism, intentionality, exclusion, and obligation. Legal essentialism is a new term proposed in chapter 1 as a substitute for previous terminology of “realism” (in contrast to “nominalism,” called “legal formalism” in this study). This essentialism is then demonstrated in four aspects: time, space, hierarchy, and knowledge.
Chapter 2 examines the role of intention in the law as an important prism to understand the tensions created by and solutions found for the sectarians’ legal essentialism. Using the work of Anscombe and Audi, the dissertation defines the concept of intention and separates it from desire and action. A special section examines the idiom “high hand” and distinguishes its biblical usage (primarily in Num 15), and its usage in the sectarian writings, primarily in 1QS.
The concept of exclusion is the focus of chapter 3, primarily through 4QMMT, and with many comparisons to 1QS. Through the work of legal scholars Dan-Cohen and Minow the role of exclusion in constituting the community and reflecting their legal essentialist stance is clarified. The role of emotions and rhetoric of emotions in exclusion is also explored in relation to contemporary theories of law and emotion. Finally, the dissertation distinguishes between permanent-static exclusions based on deformities and temporary-dynamic exclusions based on moral conduct. This distinction demonstrates the previously discussed roles of legal essentialism and intention in the law.
Chapter 4 examines obligation and commitment, borrowing the terms “transcendence” and “renunciation” from Rosabeth Moss Kanter. The tension between obligation to God and obligation to community is described using Kierkegaard, suggesting that this tension is mediated through interpretative authority in the sect.
The final chapter examines the laws of premarital sex in the Pentateuch and in 4Q159, 4QD and 11Q19 to examine the previous issues in a specific case study of legal interpretation and innovation, highlighting different motivations between a sectarian text (4QD) and a non-sectarian text (the Temple Scroll).
The conclusion highlights the benefits of applying contemporary theory in general and legal theory in particular to the study of ancient texts, and especially to the study of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

A nearly completed college textbook at a Graduate/PhD level the main thrust of this book is how pagan early religions, Judaism and later Christianity collided in the 4th century to form what we know as the Bible. Unlike most books on the history of religions "Unmasking...." doesn't have just one argument, rather 100's. My reasons is religion is thousands of years old and there is no one argument for the myriad of personalities that wrote out these scriptures! Also, this book is done with a narrating 'question/answer' layout and is more aimed at the layperson rather than the scholar--although it still cites/annotates as much as possible.
Within Hebrew scriptures the book uses a 'minimalist' approach to Jewish history rather than its superficial scriptural. With the NT, the book uses a Post-Modern viewpoint which I'm sure will cause more howls from evangelicals.
  The book uses quotes from 100's of historians, scholars and educators throughout the world--most of which head how and why scripture came into our world 3,000 years ago and will fulfill a better understanding of past religions.

According to Josephus, the Essenes were one of three major Jewish philosophies. The other two were the Pharisees, who were mostly lay people, and the Sadducees, the aristocratic and powerful priestly class of Jerusalem. Josephus says there were six thousand Pharisees and four thousand Essenes in Judaea. Pharisees were less radical than the Essenes and were ready to compromise with the Sadducees and, to some extent, co-operate with the Romans. The contemporaneous Jewish philosopher and exegete Philo of Alexandria gives the same number of Essenes. Josephus and Philo report that the Essenes live “together in large communities in several cities of Judaea and in many villages”. What is the branch of Judaism from which Christianity emerged?

The logos was an ancient Greek speculation used by the Stoics from Persian arta. No modern believer, Jew or Christian, will doubt that the bible preceded the Greek philosophers, but it did not. Heraclitus wrote about logos a century before the bible began to be written by the Persians, and even longer before the Ptolemies cast Genesis in more or less the shape it is now in. Logos remained order and truth, as it was for the Persians (arta, asha), but became cosmic reason, reality’s shape, natural laws and meaning. Humans comprehended God and reality by the logos in them. To Philo, logos was the first emanation of God, His “first begotten son” (De Agric 57)! Early Christianity was a Gnostic variety, teaching that eternal life is knowledge of Christ and God. Other Church fathers made the Gnostic distinctioin between simple Christians who just heard and believed, and Gnostics who had a philosophy beside their faith. Whatever the the Church accepted, Christian doctrines have come down to us as Catholic ones. The followers of Jesus were Ebionites whom Paul opposed. Yet, only 100 years after Christians say God walked the earth, saying personally from His own lips to anyone willing to listen what they had to do to enter His kingdom, Polycarp declared that Paul’s letter to the Philippians was the foundation of Christian faith! The establishment of the authority of the Church was a key strategy. Tertullian taught the apostles solely had authority. Irenaeus claimed scripture was the ultimate authority, but the authority for that was the tradition of the Church guarded by the Holy Ghost! And vice versa! It meant anything not approved by the Church was deemed unreliable if not wrong, and the Church stuck to this, insisting on approving all pious writing, and censoring whatever it disapproved of, all based on its own assertion that it alone owned the apostolic tradition. Church Fathers accepted scripture as inspired, but its spiritual nature left it needing interpretation. What were the principles, then, of Christian exegesis? Everything in the Jewish scriptures pointed to the coming of Christ. The problem of making everything in the Jewish scriptures refer to Christ was made easier by resorting to allegory, but modern exegetes make a distinction between allegory and typology, mainly finding incidents of the New Testament in the Old. The Jews themselves had seen their scriptures as typologically prophesying future events, and the Essenes were fond of it, calling themselves prophets for their skill at it.

There are so many areas which need to be studied when it comes to the First and Second Centuries of the Common Era, and so much more to learn about that time in history. If you read this paper and still wonder about various parts of it, it may mean that you need to do some reading to get caught up to where some of us already are.

Many within academia, for instance, still do not realize that when they are talking about the Jews of the time, they need to know exactly which 'Jews' they need to identify according to time, place and sect. This is important to better know what was being said by those recording both the Jewish historic material (i.e., the Talmud; 'Flavius Josephus' was not an actual 'Jew', but a Roman of Jewish descent).

This paper was written from the larger overview of an actual war going on at the time, instead of the view of isolated or sporadic Jewish "revolts". For more information about it being an actual long-standing war, read my other papers that cover the issue. A lot of material that that is necessary in order to uncover the fact of a genuine all-out war between the Romans and Jews can be deduced from items in the works of Flavius Josephus, various Roman authors, the Talmud, and the work of scholars such as Sir Ronald Syme, Joseph Neusner, and Abelard Reuchlin.

But, of course, you would have to read be at a level of study-ability that would allow you to know just what it is that you are reading. It is preferred that you know how to read the ancient texts involved in the original languages, using primary source documents and/or materials. When it comes to Classical material, the Loeb Classical Library edition is highly recommended. What must be known to reveal the truth about this long all-out war is that it did not begin with a disagreement between the Romans and Jews; it began with a split between the Jewish sects.

With the international pandemic, it must be asked if the Creator GOD has laws that are violated bringing judgements upon the world.  A series of visions were given with the emphasis given asking Who are the Sadducees, the Pharisees and then the question of  Who are the Essenes?  The lost history of the order of the Essenes, a special Levitical priesthood order that was instituted by the prophet Moshe of the Exodus. The Essenes were and remain a vegan movement with the unique guardianship of the Ephod of the Divine Pavilion.

A letter from the secret Essene elder in Jerusalem to his brethren in Egypt, 7 years after the cross, in AD 40. A remarkable historic text recovered in the late 1700s at a Greek Orthodox monastery in Alexandria, Egypt. Written in ancient Latin, it was first translated into modern German. The whereabouts of the document are unknown, perhaps in Vienna. The age of the parchment is not known, yet Latin appears to be the original language. German and Swedish versions of the document were printed and published in the late 1800s, with an English version in 1907 and 1919.

The story presents Jesus to be an Essene priest-monk, destined for the Essene order before His birth. It talks of His ministry and cross; and of His resuscitation and 6 months of concealment among his Essene brethren, until his death. The text is in the form of a letter written 7 years after the crucifixion, by an unnamed Essene elder at Jerusalem to one at Alexandria, presumably a Coptic monk-priest (i.e. Essene). It is centered around a resuscitation theory of the Resurrection, written to present the gospel story stripped of all supernatural features. An important piece of the sizable document is missing at the time that he was arrested and tried, until whence he is crucified and revived. Everything about the life of Jesus is tied to the activity of his brethren of the Essene order, a branch of the venerable ancient Egyptian religious order of the Copts, the priest-monks closely aligned with the ancient Brahmin priests of India.

The document states that after the crucifixion, it was the Essenes who carried Jesus away and gradually revived him. The pharisee Nicodemus was secretly an Essene of the highest degree, and an expert in the art of healing. The angel at the tomb was really an Essene, in the white robe of the order. Jesus spent the remaining months of his life among the Essenes, occasionally visiting some of his followers. From the cradle to the grave, the Essene religious order was around Jesus, and nobody except the Essenes knew the secret of his life and promise.

The old story of his attachment for Mary of Bethany (the sister of Lazarus) is retold, yet he renounces her since he is a high priest of the Essene priest-monks, and therefore must not marry. (like most monks that live in religious orders with their brethren)

The article continues the publication, for the first time, of a book left in manuscript by the Romanian orientalist Constantin Daniel. The last chapters of the book, included in the article, expose an exaggeratedly spiritual perspective of the Thracian world. This allegedly high spirituality rests on the ascetic cult of a Solar deity, known as Zalmoxis (whose name is interpreted as „the shinning man”, „the man of light”) and being identical with the Greek god Apollo. Constantin Daniel argues for the Uranian features of Zalmoxis, rejecting a traditional interpretation which ascribes him a chtonic character.
The cult of Zalmoxis prompted a moral and even ascetical life among its adepts and it created a community bound by relations of empathy and even brotherhood. The acceptance of Zalmoxis in the Thracian world led to the rejection of Dionysos and of his hedonistic cult, which was standing in opposition with the elevated spirituality of the worshippers of Zalmoxis.

Keywords : Zalmoxis, solar, cult of mysteries, Pitagora, ascetism, sensorial deprivation, immortality

This essay covers six decades of scholarly analyses of the relation between the Qumran writings and the Gospel of John. It performs the analysis using punctuation marks as categories of analysis--from exclamation points to question marks to commas to periods. It was published as the second essay in the third volume published by the John, Jesus, and History Project, edited by Mary L. Coloe and Tom Thatcher, pp. 15-50. https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/51120638.pdf

Ritual baths (miqwa’ot) built adjacent to winepresses and olive-presses have been unearthed at about twenty sites dating to the Second Temple period, most of them in Judea and the environs of Jerusalem. While much has been written in recent years on the form and function of ancient ritual baths in general, little scholarly attention has been paid to miqwa’ot found in agricultural contexts.
The presence of these miqwa’ot suggests that the ritual purity of the wine and olive oil processed in these installations was of particular importance. The fact that these ritual baths were situated adjacent to winepresses and olive-presses suggests that agricultural laborers made use of these miqwa’ot immediately prior to commencing work in these installations, a practice which accords with the Pharisaic concept of tevul yom. These finds thus provide rare archaeological evidence for the observance of ritual purity laws based on the Pharisaic system of halakhah.

La collection des Instruments pour l'étude des langues orientales anciennes (IELOA) rassemble des grammaires, dictionnaires, concordances et éditions de textes pour l'étude des langues du Proche Orient ancien et, en particulier, pour les langues et textes porteurs .~~ la tradition chrétienne. Elle s'adresse aussi bien aux spécialistesltioetaux débutants; elle tient compte notamment des besoins des historiens désireux de s'initier ou se perfectionner en ces domaines spécifiques.

Markers of a sharply defined group identity among the sectarian Scrolls as well as in the archaeology relating to the site of Qumran indicate that the sectarian Hebrew and scribal practice should be labelled as "Essene". It is important to view the language of the Scrolls as a part of a larger cultural system and to understand language as central to group identity. The complexity of the ancient Essene community is mirrored by the complexity of sectarian language and scribal practice in the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Je donne ici quelques extraits de textes gnostiques coptes de Nag Hammadi, tels que je les ai trouvés traduits en français au début 2022, sur le site de la Bibliothèque Copte de Nag Hammadi, hébergé par l'Université Laval au Canada. Ces textes étant parfois embrouillés et difficiles, sans compter les lacunes, je me suis permis quelques « arrangements » et interprétations qui me paraissaient judicieux. Ils sont donc passés à travers mon filtre, les textes authentiques vous devrez ainsi aller les chercher vous-mêmes à la source. Je ne sais pas traduire le copte ni le syriaque, très peu le grec. L'Évangile selon Philippe a été traduit par M. Louis Painchaud. La Prôtennoi trimorphe est traduite par M. Paul-Hubert Poirier. L'interprétation de la gnose par MM. Louis Painchaud et Elnar Thomassen. Je conseille, pour ceux que le sujet de la gnose intéresse, de fréquenter les travaux de M. Jean-Marie Martin (1927-2021), prêtre, théologien et philosophe.

Professor Geza Vermes, one of the translators of the Dead Sea Scrolls and an important voice in contemporary Jesus research, died after a prolonged battle with cancer in May, 2013. He was born in the town of Makó in southeastern Hungary in 1924, the son of Jewish parents who had converted to Catholicism and who were probably murdered in the Nazi holocaust, although no one knew how and where. Hidden in a Budapest seminary by a former parish priest, he survived and managed to make it to the Catholic University of Louvain, in Belgium, where he studied till 1952, obtaining his doctorate in theology with a dissertation on the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Dos tendencias con respecto a la figura mesiánica estuvieron presentes durante el periodo del Segundo Templo: en una, el Mesías restaurará las glorias anteriores a Israel y reinará sobre todas las naciones; en la otra, el Mesías traerá cambios con canciones, juicio y un futuro mejor como nunca antes se había visto (Día del Señor). Sin embargo, hay poca evidencia en torno a estas creencias durante este período, sólo aclaradas en el DSS y Canciones de Salomón. Los textos extrabíblicos sobre la noción restauradora son Ben Sira y Cantos de Salomón, mientras que Las Asunciones de Moisés, Los Oráculos Sibilinos, las Parábolas de Enoc y los Jubileos reflejan la noción utópica. En los pergaminos de Qumran está presente una combinación de ambas vistas, pero con adiciones y diferencias de otros grupos judíos. Este punto de vista está presente en La Regla de la Comunidad, Documento de Damasco, Florilegium, y el Apocalipsis Arameo (Pseudo-Daniel), mientras que el Día del SEÑOR en el Pergamino de la Guerra, Regla de la Congregación, Regla de las Bendiciones y el Apocalipsis Mesiánico. ¿Qué dicen los escritos acerca del Mesías y los tiempos finales? ¿Fueron todos teológicamente unánimes? Claramente y muy importante para los pergaminos de Qumran son el bi-mesianismo (uno sacerdotal y uno real) o incluso tri, juicio, y el énfasis en la santidad y pureza para y/o en el fin de los días.

Pochi personaggi hanno avuto un impatto tanto decisivo quanto misconosciuto sulla nascita del cristianesimo come Giovanni Battista. Figura tutt'altro che marginale nello scenario politico-religioso giudaico del i secolo, paradossalmente Giovanni non ha mai potuto brillare di luce propria. Accantonando certi schemi interpretativi teologici che ne hanno a lungo distorto la comprensione e criticando il luogo comune che vorrebbe vedervi un esseno ex membro della comunità di Qumran, il volume restituisce il Battista alla sua reale fisionomia storica di stimato profeta sacerdotale, fedele al tempio e impegnato in un'opera di rinnovamento sociale d'Israele all'insegna della purità, della giustizia e della solidarietà. Una visione che influenzò il suo discepolo Gesù di Nazaret così profondamente da farne il programmatico continuatore.

Indice
Introduzione
1. Non un ebreo marginale
Un sacerdote.../... in libera uscita
2. Tracce di una vita radicale
In cammino verso la gente/Due enigmatiche notizie: dieta e abito/La morte di un santo politicamente offensivo
3. Il Battista, Qumran e gli esseni
Giovanni a Qumran: le ragioni di un’ipotesi fantasiosa/Contatti generici: sacerdozio ed escatologia/Una dieta essena vincolante?/Immersione e “movimento battista”/Adozione a Qumran e attività nello stesso deserto?/Isaia 40,3 e la nuova prospettiva su Qumran e gli esseni/Giovanni esseno non settario/enochico?
4. Giovanni il purificatore
«Per la purità del corpo»/Che tipo d’impurità rimuoveva l’immersione di Giovanni?/Una sfida al tempio?/«E vide discendere lo Spirito»: ordinaria amministrazione?
5. Maestro di giustizia
Amico dei pubblicani, dei peccatori e dei poveri/Imitare Abramo per essere figli di Abramo
6. Profeta dell’Altissimo
Tra giudizio e salvezza/Il battesimo escatologico/Chi era il Veniente?/Giovanni annunciava il regno di Dio?/Un profilo sintetico del Battista
7. Giovanni e Gesù
Un penitente al Giordano/Che cosa accadde appena uscito dall’acqua?/Discepolo e collaboratore
8. Gesù il Battista
La causa di Giovanni continua/Gesù battezzatore nel Vangelo di Marco/Gesù battezzatore nel Vangelo dei segni
Note
Bibliografia
Indice dei nomi

Initially, I will reveal Rapoport’s close involvement in Flesch’s sweeping project of translating Philo’s writings into Hebrew. I will then discuss the links between Rapoport and Krochmal as they pertain to the examination of Philo’s philosophy. Like Krochmal, Rapoport, known as one of the “pioneers of the new historiography,” wished to exploit Philo’s ancient thought for the sake of developing his own unique historiographical account of Judaism. Finally, I will focus on Rapaport’s own assertions relating to the Jewish Alexandrian, drawing mainly on his Realenzyklopädie ‘Erekh Milin (1852). Through these different thematic junctures, I will put forward the argument that Rapoport played a pivotal role in the propagation of Philo’s thought among Jewish intellectuals. I will aim to show that Rapoport advanced within maskilic circles a perception of the Alexandrian exegete as a genuine Jewish thinker whose philosophical innovation and historical significance could be compared  with any of the achievements of other past  Jewish intellectuals. Consequently, I wish to argue that Rapoport—one of “the great authorities of Jewish scholarship” in the Haskala—served as the missing link between Krochmal and Flesch, mediating between them various ideas concerning Philo’s intimate correlation with Jewish tradition.

3 main traditions have been preserved historically for the Pentateuch: the Masoretic Text (MT), the Samaritan Pentateuch (SP), & the Septuagint (LXX). But for the rest of the OT, there are really only 2 main traditions that have been preserved historically, those being the MT & the LXX. For the New Testament (NT), traditional scholarship has identified 5 main text-types. These can further be divided really down to 3 main text-types, those being the Alexandrian, the Western, & the Byzantine (the Majority Text). Defenders of each of these text-types of the NT & manuscript traditions of the OT will ardently defend their preferred text as the sole supreme or superior text or version of that portion of the Scriptures. However, with the discovery of many new & rare ancient manuscripts, the truth behind the matter has been proven to be much more complicated than most scholars were willing to admit, especially with the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS). The DSS  offered new & unique readings preserved nowhere else, but which suggest that the original text in many places was quite different from all other manuscripts preserved outside of the DSS. For the NT, many rare & ancient manuscripts have been discovered from diverse regions of the ancient world, so many, that we have strong evidence that the Byzantine text-type, which constitutes the majority of all manuscripts of the NT, is the latest in date & is the least faithful in regards to the original text. In addition to the OT & NT textual traditions, we have an increasing amount of manuscript evidence for various extra-biblical books.

In modern centuries, these amazing manuscript discoveries have led to a complete reassessment of all the evidence & a reconsideration of conclusions that were formerly regarded as settled. High profile critical editions of the Biblical & extra-biblical texts have been being worked on in these modern times, & continue to be produced with an ever increasing level of quality & authority. For any comprehensive critical edition of the Bible, these new critical editions that are being produced absolutely must be taken into consideration when available & their readings must be included. The question comes to us: if all these other critical editions are being produced, why does my critical edition need to be produced? I will explain the aspects that my critical edition will feature which differ from the other critical editions to such an extent that make it highly worthwhile & desirable to make my critical edition. First & foremost, a large portion of the main critical editions of the Biblical & extra-biblical texts are written in languages other than English. A comprehensive critical edition is needed which translates the information for a lay audience that can only read in English. This is a tedious task, & has never been attempted to any satisfactory degree. My Bible project would be the first to produce such. Furthermore, most critical editions feature a reconstruction of their respect text-traditions. The critical editions of the OT & NT are woefully inadequate, placing undue emphasis on only 1 textual tradition primarily (such as only the MT, or only the LXX, or only the Peshitta, etc). My critical edition will be the first edition to incorporate comprehensively all the main textual traditions, & will give a much more balanced consideration for all their various readings.

    Another thing that separates my critical edition from most critical editions is the high level of textual emendation that I intend to incorporate into the actual main text of the edition. The reason for this decision is based on a high degree of evidence of major corruption in both the OT & NT books.  Using the DSS & LXX, we can see that there is a large amount of evidence that many books of the OT have been radically altered from their original text forms. This reflects the best scholarship currently available. My critical edition will incorporate the emendations that I believe reflect the original text, & will reflect my unique theories about each of the Biblical books. Also unique to my critical edition will be a highly literal English translation which will allow for a much deeper & fuller understanding of the original Hebrew text that can be reconstructed. It is also my hope that this Bible project can also be translated into other languages such as Mandarin Chinese, but if this was ever to happen, it would be much farther down the line.

During the second temple period, the Jews had various ways of seeking to actualize the kingdom of God. These were the paths of the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Essenes, and the Zealots. God chose none of them. He chose the path of Jesus of Nazareth and vindicated his path by raising him from the dead.

The Lead Mystery recently illegally looted from Jordan and today slightly in some kind of limbos are surrounded by heavy controversy. Nothing new actually. We had the same problem with the Dead Sea Scrolls. The point is that there are supposed to be many lead codices but we still don't have the full facsimile of them that would enable us to start really transcribing the content, deciphering it and then translating it into several international languages.
But they are worth a trip to the Middle East. They may be one missing link between the death of Jesus and the death of James, maybe slightly more, and it might enable us to understand who Saul, aka Paul (the one who petrified his soul with a vision on the road to Damascus) was.