The Pokey Finger of God

After I posted my review of Marvin Vining’s Jesus the Wicked Priest, he contacted me to thank me for the review and asked me to send him questions. Heh, heh, heh. So I did. My questions:

• You claim that Essenes were the dominant culture and that their leader, the “Teacher of Righteousness,” was also the high priest of the Temple. How do you counter the current perception that the Essenes were a disenfranchised priesthood from the Maccabean period, and thus unlikely to have been tied in with the Temple priesthood in the first century?
• You place the Essene headquarters in Capernaum, not Qumran. Do you make the corollary argument that “Damascus,”as referenced by Paul, was actually Capernaum, or do you think that Qumran still held this significant position among Essene settlements?
• Connecting the sacrifice of Isaac to that of the Christ via reincarnation was inspired, but later I was more disturbed by the implication. Can you clarify how the crucifixion was not then representative of God’s abjurement of the promise made to Abraham?

Marvin’s answers have been posted on his website. Thanks, Marvin!