172:, then in the School of Divinity (now the Department of Religious Studies) where she continued until her retirement. During this time she was a member of the Board of Studies in Divinity and the Board of Continuing Education, and served for twelve years as a lay member of the New South Wales Equal Opportunity Tribunal. When her work became known in the United States, she was made a fellow of the
213:"Professor Barbara Thiering's reinterpretation of the New Testament, in which the married, divorced, and remarried Jesus, father of four, becomes the "Wicked Priest" of the Dead Sea Scrolls, has made no impact on learned opinion. Scroll scholars and New Testament experts alike have found the basis of the new theory, Thiering's use of the so-called "pesher technique", without substance."
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considered altogether initially outlandish, given the scientifically definitive dating (based mostly on paleographical and on radiocarbon techniques) of the scrolls to a period well before the birth of
Christianity (Thiering, 1992). Thiering’s theory, by the way, is a good example of a fringe theory that is popular with the media.
241:
In their widely acclaimed book on the historical Jesus, biblical scholars James
Crossley and Robert J. Myles write that the Dead Sea Scrolls from Qumran are among the best Jewish sources for reconstructing the life of the historical Jesus "because they were collected, written, and interpreted before
262:
Barbara
Thiering's identification of two of the main personalities of the Qumran Scrolls - the 'Teacher of Righteousness' and the 'Wicked Priest' with John the Baptist and Jesus respectively - has not convinced any professional working in the field. ... Her extensive use of the pesher technique to
116:
stories. Whereas Qumran-style pesher of the Dead Sea
Scrolls decodes ancient prophetic writings to find contemporary apocalyptic meanings, Thiering's "pesher technique" claims that the gospel writers encoded contemporary facts in miracle stories to be told in the future. She also claims that the
253:
As an example consider the case of
Barbara Thiering. She claims that the scrolls are the product of rivalry between the supporters of John the Baptist, identified with the scrolls’ “Teacher of Righteousness,” and Jesus, identified with the “Man of the Lie.” For my purposes this theory must be
137:, as some sceptics hold, but were "deliberately constructed myths" concealing (yet, to certain initiates, relating) esoteric historic events. She alleges that they never actually happened (that is, that the events they chronicle were not at all miraculous), as the authors of the
145:
style of interpretation used by the Qumran community was also used by the authors of the
Gospels; thus, they wrote on two levels. For the "babes in Christ," there were apparent miracles, but the knowledge of exact meanings held by the highly educated members of
225:
It is safe to say that no serious scholar has given this elaborate and fantastic theory any credence whatsoever. It is nearly ten years since it was published; the scholarly world has been able to take a good look at it: and the results are totally
270:
As I have briefly indicated, her scholarly peers have found her arguments to be tenuous and unconvincing. Despite her assertions to the contrary, her presentation of Jesus owes far more to fictitious imagination than to historical research.
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Despite her claims to the contrary, supporting evidence from the
Scrolls is not to be found for most of her hypotheses. Having discovered the pesher technique, she uses it wholeheartedly and without discrimination. ...
431:
58:
with First Class
Honours in Modern Languages, was a high school teacher of languages for several years, and then, while caring for her three young children, continued study and research privately. She obtained an
242:
and around the time of Jesus." However, "no New
Testament documents were among the scrolls, and conspiracy theories about them containing coded references to Jesus cannot be taken seriously".
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was published in 1990, and her ideas have not received acceptance by many of her academic peers. In a response to a letter
Thiering wrote to
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early Christian Church was a natural development of "Sons of Light" of the Qumram community. The theory argues that the miracles, including
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In view of her research publications in academic journals, she was invited to lecture at Sydney University, at first in the Department of
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James F. McGrath. "Review of Barbara Thiering, 'Jesus of the Apocalypse. The Life of Jesus after the Crucifixion'"
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22:(15 November 1930 – 16 November 2015) was an Australian historian, theologian, and biblical
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James Crossley & Robert J. Myles, Jesus a Life in Class Conflict, Winchester: Zer0 Books, 2023, p. 20.
238:, and that she herself acknowledges that the pesher of the Revelation of St. John is her own composition.
294:, re-issued in paperback with foreword by Barbara Thiering (Simon and Schuster, New York; November 2006;
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specialising in the origins of the early Christian Church. In books and journal articles, she challenged
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beliefs. Her analysis has yet to be widely accepted by New Testament scholars or scholars in Judaism.
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reinterpret the whole story of Jesus is equally unsupported by the scholarly community. ...
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James F. McGrath, an Associate Professor in the Religion and Philosophy department at
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Digitised version of no. 40 (2007) available on JSTOR Open Community Collections
54:, she married Barry Thiering in the late 1940s. She graduated in 1952 from the
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Digitised version of no. 9 (1991) available on JSTOR Open Community Collections
416:"Academic and iconoclast Barbara Thiering exemplified tumultuous 1960's ethos"
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Barbara Thiering died on 16 November 2015, the day after her 85th birthday.
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Out of the Cave: A Philosophical Inquiry Into the Dead Sea Scrolls Research
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The Encyclopedia of Women and Leadership in Twentieth-Century Australia
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Thiering claimed to have discovered, from her specialty study of the
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in his 1996 review of the book states that Thiering's thesis lacks
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Australian historian, theologian, and biblical exegete (1930-2015)
446:"A Critical Re-Appraisal of Thiering's 'Pesher Technique' Thesis"
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23:
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from the original on September 5, 2017, retrieved March 25, 2016
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Women-Church: Australian Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion
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Women-Church: Australian Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion
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Jesus of the Apocalypse: The Life of Jesus After the Crucifixion
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Thiering's thesis attracted some controversy in the media when
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593:. Melbourne: The Joint Board of Christian Education. pp. 7-8.
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Created Second? Key Aspects of Women's Liberation in Australia
221:, New Testament historian and former Bishop of Durham, wrote:
209:, Vermes outlined the academic reception of her work stating:
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The Pesher Technique, Barbara Thiering, reply by Geza Vermes
291:
Jesus the Man: New Interpretation from the Dead Sea Scrolls
129:, among others, did not actually occur (as miracles), as
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Australian theologian Christopher Walker has written:
414:Nerida, Paul and David Thiering (4 December 2015),
342:(Sydney, Family Life Movement of Australia, 1973,
501:The New York Review of Books, December 1st, 1994.
380:Thiering, Barbara. "Looking Back - and Forward",
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625:Pesher Technique website of Dr. Barbara Thiering
245:Edna Ullman-Margalit, a former professor at the
179:In 1990, a documentary film about her research,
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82:degree from the University of Sydney in 1973.
141:knew. According to her interpretation, the
728:Academic staff of the University of Sydney
392:University of Divinity Digital Collections
372:University of Divinity Digital Collections
323:The Book That Jesus Wrote - John’s Gospel
693:Alumni of University of London Worldwide
569:. Harvard University Press. p. 20.
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112:, a "pesher technique" for decoding the
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150:schools gave a real history of what
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185:Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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688:Alumni of the University of London
565:Ullman-Margalit, Edna (May 2006).
450:Journal of Early Christian History
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708:Australian historians of religion
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659:Theobald, Marjorie Rose (1941–)
610:Sydney Morning Herald, Tributes
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589:Walker, Christopher C. (1995).
520:. Wm. B. Eerdmans. p. 23.
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462:10.1080/2222582X.2014.11877301
444:Allen, Nicholas P. L. (2017).
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360:Thiering, Barbara. "Goddess",
247:Hebrew University of Jerusalem
181:Riddle of the Dead Sea Scrolls
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723:University of Divinity alumni
591:Jesus Christ: More Than a Man
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318:). (Translated into Japanese)
76:Melbourne College of Divinity
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718:Members of the Jesus Seminar
698:Australian biblical scholars
646: (archived 16 July 2011)
612:; retrieved 21 December 2015
326:(Transworld Doubleday 1998,
310:(Transworld Doubleday 1995,
202:The New York Review of Books
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703:Australian women historians
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20:Barbara Elizabeth Thiering
205:objecting to a review by
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512:Wright, Nicholas Thomas
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133:believe, nor were they
119:turning water into wine
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284:Selected bibliography
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162:Further information:
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68:University of London
56:University of Sydney
546:Jan. 1996: 170-172.
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127:resurrection
123:virgin birth
110:hermeneutics
108:, and their
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74:degree from
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683:2015 deaths
678:1930 births
456:(2): 4–30.
207:GĂ©za Vermes
672:Categories
402:References
131:Christians
38:Background
470:161905846
226:negative.
217:In 1993,
106:semiotics
48:Australia
514:(1993).
432:archived
425:25 March
355:Articles
249:, wrote:
104:, their
98:pesharim
78:, and a
61:external
42:Born in
652:at the
642:at the
475:9 April
148:Gnostic
139:Gospels
135:legends
100:of the
24:exegete
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492:p. 46.
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143:pesher
121:, the
92:Pesher
44:Sydney
466:S2CID
276:Death
236:proof
152:Jesus
80:Ph.D.
72:M.Th.
50:, as
595:ISBN
571:ISBN
522:ISBN
477:2020
427:2016
344:ISBN
328:ISBN
312:ISBN
296:ISBN
158:Work
70:, a
64:B.D.
661:in
458:doi
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