Difference between revisions of "From Politics to Piety: The Emergence of Pharisaic Judaism (1973 Neusner), book"
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==ABSTRACT== | ==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 | ''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 one of Neusner's more provocative works, reflecting a critical approach to the sources, and is one of Neusner's better publications. Not only a valuable basic introduction to the Pharisees, but a worthy example of how to analyze source material. - '''Ronald Ruark''', University of Michigan | ||
==TABLE OF CONTENTS== | ==TABLE OF CONTENTS== | ||
Revision as of 17:37, 3 December 2009
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 one of Neusner's more provocative works, reflecting a critical approach to the sources, and is one of Neusner's better publications. Not only a valuable basic introduction to the Pharisees, but a worthy example of how to analyze source material. - Ronald Ruark, University of Michigan
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. The Problem of the Historical Pharisees
2. Hillel
3. Josephus' Pharisees: "The Real Administrators of the State"
4. The Gospels' Pharisees: "Brood of Vipers"
5. The Rabbinical Traditions about the Pharisees
6. Traditions of Yavneh (70-125 A.D.)
7. Traditions of Usha (140-170 A.D.)
8. The Pharisees in History
Appendix I. The Pharisees in the Gospels by Morton Smith
Appendix II. Luke and the Pharisees by J. A. Ziesler
EDITIONS
1st edition. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1973.
2nd edition. New York: KTAV, 1979.