Difference between revisions of "Pharisees"

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*ANCIENT SOURCES: see [[Pharisees (sources)]]
#REDIRECT [[:Category:Pharisees (subject)]]
*SCHOLARLY AND FICTIONAL WORKS: see [[:Category:Pharisees (subject)]]


The '''Pharisees''' were one of the religious parties of Second Temple Judaism.
==Overview==
During the late Second Temple period, the Pharisees became the most popular opposition party against the leadership of the ruling party of the [[Sadducees]]. The Pharisees represented the interests of "middle-class" Jews, especially [[Levites]].
Religiously, the Pharisees were a reform movement. They emphasized the centrality of the Torah and its moral commitments, more that the sacrificial system of the Temple. They strongly promoted the observance of purity laws outside the Temple. According to Josephus, they stressed human freedom, but recognized that such a freedom was somehow limited by the spread of evil. They believed in the end of time or in the coming of an eschatological Messiah (the [[Son of David]]). They considered normative not only the five books of Moses, but also the Prophets and the [[Tradition of the Fathers]].
While competing with the Sadducees, the Pharisees did not attack directly their authority. They relied on the large consensus they had among the masses to promote their reforms. Especially under the [[Hasmoneans]] the Pharisees were subjected to persecution, but their strength proved to be greater of any attempt to suppress them.
The attitude of the Pharisees toward more radical groups of opponents ([[Essenes]], [[Zealots]], [[Early Christians]], etc.) was somehow ambivalent. On one hand they strongly fought against their radical views; on the other, they often defended them against the [[Sadducees]], never recognizing to the Sadducees the right to suppress their opponents.
The Pharisees had a role of leadership at the beginning of the Jewish War, when [[Ananus ben Ananus]] succeeded in creating a government of national unity with the [[Sadducees]], the Pharisees and the [[Essenes]]. As the revolt progressed, however, the more moderate parties were marginalized and the Pharisees also lost enthusiasm in the cause. They took a midway position (neither with the rebels nor with the Romans) which on the long run allowed them to survive and prosper. It is generally maintained that the Pharisees were the most important and dynamic component in the coalition that after the Jewish War]] generated [[Rabbinic Judaism]].
==The Pharisees in ancient sources==
==The Pharisees in Scholarship==
==The Pharisees in Fiction==
==Related categories==
*[[:Category:Sadducees (subject)|Sadducees (subject)]] / [[:Category:Essenes (subject)|Essenes (subject)]] / [[:Category:Early Christians (subject)|Early Christians (subject)]] / [[:Category:Zealots (subject)|Zealots (subject)]]
==References==
*''' ''' / [[]] / In: [[The Anchor Bible Dictionary (1992 Freedman), dictionary]],
*'''Pharisees''' / [[Roland Deines]] / In: [[The Eerdmans Dictionary of Early Judaism (2010 Collins / Harlow), dictionary]], 1061-1063
==External links==
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharisees Wikipedia]




Latest revision as of 09:18, 27 July 2012

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