Charges of ethical misconduct at Society of Biblical Literature, ASOR

[View from Here]

Some of you may be interested in an article by an author I admire, discussing what appears to be the inappropriate behaviour of certain individuals connected with the Society of Biblical Literature and the American Schools of Oriental Research. The link is:

http://www.nowpublic.com/culture/charity-fund-academic-organizations-involved-dead-sea-scrolls-conflict

[DeSwiss]

1. A very interesting piece....

I've read an article by this gentleman before concerning Christian agenda bias in the http://www.nowpublic.com/culture/did-christian-agenda-lead-biased-dead-sea-scrolls-exhibit-san-diego">"Dead Sea Scoll Exhibit in San Diego"

And there was another article that was linked to the one you posted that I found to be both enlightening and infuriating. But highly recommended as well: http://www.nowpublic.com/culture/jesus-judas-and-dead-sea-scrolls-peddling-religious-sensationalism-america">"Peddling religious sensationalism in America"

- K&R

[Caria]

2. This is a NON-issue

The piece is full of outrage and insinuation, but does not really show that there was any unethical behavior whatsoever. Anyone can join ASOR, and once a member, can submit abstracts, attend meetings, ask questions and present contrasting views. They are not exclusionary.

FWIW, I've attended some of Jodi Madness' talks - including one in San Diego - and they are excellent. She explains she thinks and why in clear, well-reasoned logical arguments. That is what scholars do. In the talk I attended at SD (edited for clarification), she argued that the archaeological evidence for toilets at Qumran is consistent with written descriptions of Essene practices with regards to defecation. She was informative, funny, and entertaining all at once.

[View from Here]

3. Thank you for your input

Thank you, but I'm not in the least convinced by what you say. The facts seem to show that Magness did not simply "attend a meeting," but was the "plenary speaker," by invitation, with no one else invited to respond to her. Sounds to me like she used her position on the annual meeting committee to get herself into that slot. Incidentally, I myself heard that her talks were atrocious, and the ridiculously weak argument you cite about toilets confirms this.

[Caria]

4. Sorry, but you are off-base on this

If anything she was probably surprised to be asked, since she's younger than other plenary speakers have been, and she's neither male nor Christian. As a Jewish woman, she's had to work harder than most to earn recognition and respect in field that is overwhelmingly WASPy & male in the US.

Her argument was neither weak nor ridiculous. If it sounds that way to you then it is because I did not do her justice in my little summary. That is my fault, not hers.

I urge to you join ASOR, go to the meetings, and go to Professor Magness' talks yourself!

[View from Here]

7. oh come now

"If anything she was surprised to be asked..."

How surprising that a member of ASOR's Board of Trustees and of ASOR's Annual Meeting Planning Committee was "asked" to give the plenary talk at ASOR's annual meeting!

"She's had to work harder than most..."

Yes indeed, and apparently she's figured out how to get ahead!

"She's younger than other plenary speakers have been..."

This simply shows how badly her defenders have been had.

"Her argument was neither weak nor ridiculous..."

Everyone knows that Magness is very talented at stating her "opinions" about things without engaging with the evidence in a convincing manner. Her "arguments" have been rejected over and over again by all sorts of Israeli archaeologists. For example, she said the dishware found at Qumran indicated it was inhabited by a sectarian "community," but the main Israeli specialist on pottery demonstrated in several books and articles that the dishware, both in type and quantity, is exactly like that found in many other sites throughout the region, and is simply indicative of the wealth of the Hasmonaeans who built up the area.

Another Israeli archaeologist has pointed out that the "communal" dining room of Qumran is exactly like ones found in many other sites; they were simply the areas where the soldiers' slaves ate their meals. Magness is incapable of dealing in a serious manner, for example, with the fact that over 500 scribal hands are present among the scrolls. That she has been obliged to resort to a speculative "argument" about toilets shows exactly how weak and ridiculous her situation has become. Such claims have been put forward by a variety of charlatans, and have been shown by reputable scholars to be based on speculative assumptions and inaccurate textual citations.

Now, why were you taken in by Dr. Magness's foolish claims? The answer is quite obvious: no one was invited to answer her at any of her lectures. And it seems that no one was invited to answer her, because she used her position on the Planning Committee and the Board of Trustees to ensure that she would not be answered. This is the exact opposite of what should happen in a scholarly venue, and that you and others would blithely ignore the problem is frankly quite disturbing.

[struggle4progress]

5. Magness wouldn't have gotten tenure at UNC if she weren't a kick-ass researcher

http://www.unc.edu/depts/rel_stud/people/facultydocs/bio-magness.shtml

[struggle4progress]

6. This topic seems to excite certain rightwingers like Charles Gadda, the author

of the piece linked in the OP.

The DU thread Charles Gadda is a Freeper is certainly worth a skim

One might see Gadda in action in this thread: http://www.jewlicious.com/?p=3651

[View from Here]

8. These claims have already been discussed

I don't really see any point in responding to this type of personal invective, but I will simply point out that it's difficult to find anything right-wing about any of Gadda's articles. He exposes sordid financial dealings, a systematic abuse of power, and shoddy scholarship. He is critical of evangelical Christians. His new article (linked above), for example, contains this statement:

"The material significance of the (Essene) theory lies in the fact that thousands of Christian tourists are drawn to Israel and, specifically, to the Qumran site near the Dead Sea, every year to retrace the steps of Jesus and his imagined "Essene" predecessors who, according to the San Diego exhibitors, authored the Dead Sea Scrolls..."

Right-wingers don't attack evangelical tourism to Israel, quite the contrary.

In fact, the San Diego Natural History museum which Gadda has been attacking is known to be run by right-wingers, including Christy Walton, the heiress to the Walmart fortune. The San Diego Historical Society with which the museum is connected has always had a "little old ladies married to wealthy developers" syndrome.

So if you wish to call someone names, why don't you back it up with some kind of a credible argument.

[struggle4progress]

9. Gadda was apparently still posting in the trailer park last week

Click here to visit Gadda in Freeperville

[View from Here]

12. This is what I see at that link:

A breakdown in our political culture has been accompanied by other, related manifestations. These can be illustrated by examples from three domains: (1) fallacious theoretical discourse about a claimed nexus between science and religion; (2) religiously motivated sensationalism involving two hoaxes initially perpetrated on the National Geographic and Discovery channels, and widely publicized through dozens of other media outlets; and (3) the ongoing scandal involving the cooperation between a major "non-profit" science museum and a "scholarly" monopoly aimed at exploiting the public's fascination with Christian origins...

You call this "right-wing"? Come now, you can do better than that. People who lauch attacks against Reagan's advisor Dinesh D'Souzy, and against Romney for repudiating a "key argument" of J. F. Kennedy, are not "right-wing." See Gadda's article on "Peddling Religious Sentationalism in America" at

http://www.nowpublic.com/culture/jesus-judas-and-dead-sea-scrolls-peddling-religious-sensationalism-america

[struggle4progress]

10. The article in your OP shows none of the virtues you insist I myself should exhibit:

it is a slur piece, that by long innuendo attempts to make case that certain people have engaged in questionable activity, without providing any evidence. Something more than that is required to make a case or even to excite interest

[View from Here]

13. I strongly disagree

The piece provides ample evidence. When a single individual abuses her position on the Board of Trustees and Annual Meeting Committee of a scholarly organization to monopolize all of the lectures on a particular topic at that organization's annual meeting, we are clearly dealing with "questionable activity."

And the piece already seems to be exciting interest among various people, including biblical scholars, as you can see, for example, at this link: http://www.iidb.org/vbb/showthread.php?t=231889

[struggle4progress]

15. So Gadda reposted his hit piece on another board. Yawn

[View from Here]

16. Your show of a lack of interest is hardly convincing

Here is what a veteran member of that site, obviously a biblical scholar, and who has posted over 9,000 comments, said about the Dead Sea Scrolls after reading Gadda's piece:

The basic battle lines were set in the 1950s by the international team of non-Israeli scholars. Anyone who did not follow the battle orders didn't get access to the scrolls and were dismissed from consideration by known scrolls people. The major journal was a reflection of the standing orders. Alternative theories were severely attacked. Renowned scholars like Rowley, Driver and Roth were basically ignored, as they were supposedly dilettanting. By the time the scrolls were liberated, their interpretation had been imprisoned. Magness has committed crimes of scholarship, interpreting the site with a priori views, reading the scrolls as necessarily representing life at Qumran, using what Josephus and Philo said to understand the site. As she defends the Essene hypothesis, she is the one light in Qumran (Essene) archaeology, while many other archaeologists are left in silence. (Who knows the results of Magen and Peleg's work at Qumran? Who, for instance, has read the findings of the conference at Brown university on Qumran archaeology?)

Peer reviewing has failed because there has been so little peer review. I remember reading an analysis of an already published Qumran text by Baumgarten (I think), in which the scholar reproved the poor philological scholarship related to the text and complained that the lack of access stifled debate. We have inherited this position. The philology has improved, but the standard interpretative bindings are still in place to wrap it up as with Manchu women's feet.

So you can yawn away as much as you like, but it seems to me that guy has a pretty good idea of what he's talking about, and there's nothing "right-wing" about what either he or Gadda is saying.

[struggle4progress]

11. As President Carter is an evangelical, and the continuing focus of rightwing attack, I conclude

that some people who attack evangelicals may be rightwingers

[View from Here]

14. Carter's not the focus of rightwing attack because he's an evangelical

but rather because of his liberal political positions. If you had some kind of evidence from Gadda's articles that he's right-wing, maybe you would have a case. The problem is that you don't seem to have any evidence whatsover, so it appears that you are bluffing with a false accusation, no doubt because you are offended by his positions for some other reason. Anyone can see through that kind of nonsense.