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English ed. (1967)

Les sectes juives au temps de Jésus (1960) is a book by Marcel Simon.

Abstract

Marcel Simon collected the notes of Roger Goossens in order to finish the work of the Belgian scholar who died before finishing his book. Simon deepens and coordinates his notes with his study about the Jewish sects in the time of Jesus. After having explained the utilization of the word 'sect,' Simon describes the sects of the Sadducees, Pharisees and Zealots using various sources. His analysis paints a reality dominated by the struggle for the religious supremacy between the Sadducees and Pharisees. The latter group, in the normative way, are more progressive than the Sadducees. Pharisees include in their thought foreign elements, without bad consequences for their affiliation to the Judaism, because their religious practice was direct on the orthopraxy and not orthodoxy. Zealots is a marginal group of nationalist terrorists. One great chapter is dedicated to Essenism and the manuscripts of Qumran. For Simon, following the Essene theory, identifies the owners of manuscripts with the Essene sect, described by Josephus, Pliny, and Philo. He compares the notices of ancient writers with the manuscripts' contents. Thus he describe the traits of this marginal and strong sectarian group of Judaism. After, he discusses about others marginals sects, using like sources the writings of Justin Martyr and Hegesippus. He analyzes what he calls Alexandrian Judaism, deepening the write of Philo, the Aristea's letter, the Therapeuts' movement. He conclude with a search on the roots of Jesus' movements (he proposes the Essenism through John Baptist) and the early Christian's theology (from the thought of Philo and Alexandrian Judaism). - Matteo Silvestrini University of Lausanne

Editions and translations

Published in Paris (Presses universitaires de France, 1960).

Translated into Spanish, English, and Korean:

• Las sectas judías en el tiempo de Jesús (1962 Simon), book (Spanish ed.)

• Jewish Sects at the Time of Jesus (1967 Simon), book (English ed.)

• Yesu sidae ŭi Yudaegyo chongpʻadŭl (1990 Simon / Park), book (Korean ed.)

Table of contents

• Avant propos

• I. Définition et caractères des sectes juives
• II. Sadducéens, Pharisiens et Zélotes
• III. Les manuscrits de la mer Morte et l'Essénisme
• IV. Autres sectes palestiniennes
• V. Le judaïsme alexandrin
• VI. Les sectes juves et le christianisme

• Orientation Bibliographique

External links