From Politics to Piety: The Emergence of Pharisaic Judaism (1973 Neusner), book

ABSTRACT

From Politics to Piety (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1973) traces the transformation of the Pharisees from political activism in the first century BCE to a less political, more quietistic religious group after the Great Revolt and into the rabbinic era. Neusner pioneered a critical approach to rabbinic literature, demonstrating a staunch refusal to blindly accept their stories as historical fact. His perspective on Josephus and the gospels was equally skeptical. He questions how much Josephus really knew about the Pharisees, and he argues that the gospels’ presentation of the Pharisees reveals more about their lives and influence after the Great Revolt than before. In this approach he is adopting the position of his own teacher, Morton Smith. This book is not only a valuable basic introduction to the Pharisees, but a worthy example of how to analyze source material. - Ronald Ruark, University of Michigan