{"id":47444,"date":"2024-06-20T05:28:00","date_gmt":"2024-06-20T11:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/?p=47444"},"modified":"2024-06-18T13:29:36","modified_gmt":"2024-06-18T19:29:36","slug":"you-might-be-a-pharisee-if","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/2024\/06\/you-might-be-a-pharisee-if\/","title":{"rendered":"You Might Be a Pharisee if&#8230;"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The Pharisees get a bad reputation from their portrayal in the gospels, but it probably isn\u2019t deserved. Jewish scholar Amy-Jill Levine recently discussed why that is likely to be the case that we are guilty of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fromthedesk.org\/misunderstanding-the-pharisees-amy-jill-levine\/\">misunderstanding the Pharisees<\/a> in a recent interview at the Latter-day Saint history blog <em>From the Desk<\/em>. What follows here is a copost to that interview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To start, Amy-Jill Levine shared some information about who the Pharisees were:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>In much of the Christian imagination, beginning with the Gospels, the Pharisees (with a few notable exceptions) represent hypocrisy, misogynism, elitism, xenophobia, the letter of the law rather than on the Spirit, and generally everything that Christians, and by extension, everyone, does not like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Conversely, Jews have, since the Middle Ages, recognized the Pharisees as the predecessors of Rabbinic Judaism: The Pharisees encouraged the Jewish people to increase the sanctity of their lives and fully to be a \u201cpriestly kingdom and a holy nation\u201d (Exodus 19:6).<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Even within the New Testament, however, the picture is complicated:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>The Gospels show them in synagogues, as hosting Jesus at dinner, and as teaching the people. When Matthew states that the Pharisees \u201ccross sea and land to make a single proselyte\u201d (23:15), the impression is not one of separation but of active engagement with fellow Jews to help them better to follow Torah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Josephus also talks about the popularity of the Pharisees among the masses despite not being a fan. (Josephus thought people should look to the inherited roles held by priests rather than to the Pharisees.) \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Paul is a Pharisee, and he never rejects his Pharisaic connections. Gamaliel (Acts 5) speaks up on behalf of Peter and John. Nicodemus, a \u201cleader of the Pharisees,\u201d also speaks up on behalf of Jesus, and he together with Joseph of Arimathea entombs Jesus\u2019s corpse. Acts mentions other Pharisees who joined \u201cthe way.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Levine also added that the debates that Jesus held with the Pharisees were those of a Jew debating with Jews about the best way to honor their shared religion:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>By debating with the Pharisees about Torah interpretation, Jesus does not remove himself from the Jewish community. To the contrary, one does not debate about something in which one has no investment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>First-century Judaism was quite diverse when it came to specific practices (e.g., handwashing) and belief (e.g., in resurrection of the dead). Jesus and his followers are part of that diversity\u2014as were Pharisees. \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Perhaps if more people understood that Jews did then, and do now, disagree on how to follow Torah, they would be able to recognize his debates with Pharisees as something normative within Jewish life rather than a rejection of it.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Thus, in the context of the times, the Pharisees were just a specific group of people with shared beliefs that Jesus and his followers were engaging with about interpretation of Jewish religion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The popularity and success of the Pharisees was accounted for by a few aspects of the lifestyle and teachings of the Pharisees:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Their concern for practice<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Their flexibility in Torah interpretation<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Their living among the people rather than retreating to the Dead Sea<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Their reputation according to Josephus for living simply rather than ostentatiously<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Their egalitarian rather than inherited status<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>That very popularity, however, positioned the Pharisees as rivals of the religious movement started by Jesus, which may have contributed to negative portrayals in the Gospels:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>The Gospels, written at least a generation after the death of Jesus, recognize the Pharisees\u2014and for John\u2019s Gospel, all the \u201cJews\u201d\u2014as the rivals to their teachings. We can track an increase in anti-Pharisaic rhetoric as we move from Mark to Matthew to John. Scholars debate the presentation of the Pharisees in Luke and Acts as to how intense the anti-Pharisaic rhetoric is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While most Jews chose to follow the Pharisees, the Gospel message received wider welcome in the non-Jewish world. For the followers of Jesus, first Jewish and then among the nations, the Pharisees served as the major rival to their teachings even in places where there were no Pharisees.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Thus, some of the portrayal of Pharisees as opponents of Jesus may have been shaped in the telling by people who experienced them as religious rivals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As a means of countering negative portrayals of Pharisees, Amy-Jill Levine shared a list of \u201cyou might be a Pharisee if\u2026\u201d based on historical data:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>You might be a Pharisee if:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>You believe in a combination of fate and free will.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>You believe in the resurrection of the dead and a final judgment.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>You reject elitism and favor voluntary groups over inherited positions.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>You value your traditions, but you also realize they must be reinterpreted in light of new social circumstances.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>You want to make it easier and more meaningful for people to engage in their traditions, and you are willing to discuss how to do so.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>You care about multiculturalism and maintaining group identity despite assimilationist pressures.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>You have been maligned over the centuries for your commitment to your tradition.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>You\u2019d have dinner with Jesus.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>This is a very different viewpoint than the common caricature of Pharisees as representing \u201chypocrisy, misogynism, elitism, xenophobia, the letter of the law rather than on the Spirit.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For more about the Pharisees and how Christians are sometimes guilty of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fromthedesk.org\/misunderstanding-the-pharisees-amy-jill-levine\/\">misunderstanding the Pharisees<\/a>, head on over and read the full interview with Amy-Jill Levine. It\u2019s a very interesting and rich interview with a lot of great information, so definitely worth the time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Pharisees get a bad reputation from their portrayal in the gospels, but it probably isn\u2019t deserved. Jewish scholar Amy-Jill Levine recently discussed why that is likely to be the case that we are guilty of misunderstanding the Pharisees in a recent interview at the Latter-day Saint history blog From the Desk. What follows here is a copost to that interview. To start, Amy-Jill Levine shared some information about who the Pharisees were: In much of the Christian imagination, beginning with the Gospels, the Pharisees (with a few notable exceptions) represent hypocrisy, misogynism, elitism, xenophobia, the letter of the law rather than on the Spirit, and generally everything that Christians, and by extension, everyone, does not like. Conversely, Jews have, since the Middle Ages, recognized the Pharisees as the predecessors of Rabbinic Judaism: The Pharisees encouraged the Jewish people to increase the sanctity of their lives and fully to be a \u201cpriestly kingdom and a holy nation\u201d (Exodus 19:6). Even within the New Testament, however, the picture is complicated: The Gospels show them in synagogues, as hosting Jesus at dinner, and as teaching the people. When Matthew states that the Pharisees \u201ccross sea and land to make a single proselyte\u201d [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10397,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2890,2907],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-from-the-desk","category-new-testament"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10397"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47444"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47444\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47445,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47444\/revisions\/47445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}