The Pharisees
Edited by Joseph Sievers & Amy-Jill Levine ISBN 9780802879295 Binding Trade Cloth Publisher WM B. Eerdmans Publishing Company Publication Date December 02, 2021 Size 152 x 229 mmA multidisciplinary appraisal of the Pharisees: who they were, what they taught, and how they’ve been understood and depicted throughout history
For centuries, Pharisees have been well known but little understood—due at least in part to their outsized role in the Christian imagination arising from select negative stereotypes based in part on the Gospels. Yet historians see Pharisees as respected teachers and forward-thinking innovators who helped make the Jewish tradition more adaptable to changing circumstances and more egalitarian in practice. Seeking to bridge this gap, the contributors to this volume provide a multidisciplinary appraisal of who the Pharisees actually were, what they believed and taught, and how they have been depicted throughout history.
The topics explored within this authoritative resource include:
- the origins of the Pharisees
- the meaning of the name “Pharisee”
- Pharisaic leniency, relative to the temple priesthood, in judicial matters
- Pharisaic concerns for the Jewish laity
- Pharisaic purity practices and why they became popular
- the varying depictions of Pharisaic practices and beliefs in the New Testament
- Jesus’s relationship to the Pharisees
- the apostle Paul and his situation within the Pharisaic tradition
- the question of continuity between the Pharisaic tradition and Rabbinic Judaism
- the reception history of the Pharisees, including among the rabbis, the church fathers, Rashi, Maimonides, Luther, and Calvin
- the failures of past scholarship to deal justly with the Pharisees
- the representations, both positive and negative, of the Pharisees in art, film, passion plays, and Christian educational resources
- how Christian leaders can and should address the Pharisees in sermons and in Bible studies
Following the exploration of these and other topics by a team of internationally renowned scholars, this volume concludes with an address by Pope Francis on correcting the negative stereotypes of Pharisees that have led to antisemitic prejudices and finding resources that “will positively contribute to the relationship between Jews and Christians, in view of an ever more profound and fraternal dialogue.”
Contributors:
Luca Angelelli, Harold W. Attridge, Vasile Babota, Shaye J. D. Cohen, Philip A. Cunningham, Deborah Forger, Paula Fredriksen, Yair Furstenburg, Massimo Grilli, Susannah Heschel, Angela La Delfa, Amy-Jill Levine, Hermut Löhr, Steve Mason, Eric M. Meyers, Craig E. Morrison, Vered Noam, Henry Pattarumadathil, Adele Reinhartz, Jens Schröter, Joseph Sievers, Matthias Skeb, Abraham Skorka, Günter Stemberger, Christian Stückl, Adela Yarbro Collins, and Randall Zachman.
Biblical Archaeology Society Publication Award for Best Book on the New Testament (2023)
“There are conference volumes, and then there are conference volumes. This breathtaking book is one of the latter. . . . God knows, we still have a long way to go before Christian anti-Judaism is wiped from the face of the earth. But to read these essays is to be reminded of how far we have come and of what may yet be possible.”
Interpretation
“Challenges biblical scholars to review the impressive evidence and refine their treatment of the Pharisees accordingly. This book should be required reading in biblical studies and homiletics courses to help prevent the continuation of anti-Jewish interpretations.”
“This volume provides an authoritative and comprehensive update on the Pharisees. The articles, written by leading scholars, consider the Pharisees including their reception history and legacy up to the present from multiple perspectives, based on careful analyses of diverse sources such as the Qumran scrolls, Josephus, the New Testament, rabbinic literature, and Christian writers. Written in a manner that is accessible to specialists and non-specialists alike, this volume should be considered an essential resource on the Pharisees.”
— Jodi Magness
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
“Tackling the caricatures of the Pharisees deeply embedded in contemporary Christian misunderstanding of ancient Judaism is no easy task. Sievers and Levine are to be warmly congratulated on bringing together a remarkable multidisciplinary array of scholars not only to dispel myths about the role of the Pharisees in Jewish society in the time of Jesus but also to explore the role of those myths in Jewish-Christian relations over the centuries down to the present. This book will enlighten many and deserves to have an impact on a wide readership.”
— Martin Goodman
University of Oxford
“The 1974 Nostra Aetate Guidelines issued by the Vatican’s Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews warn against the pejorative use of the words ‘Pharisee’ and ‘pharisaism.’ However, this warning was not adequately heeded and even today at the highest levels in the Christian world such negative use of these terms continues, reinforcing harmful anti-Jewish stereotypes. This valuable collection of modern scholarship is not only important in providing a more accurate understanding of who the Pharisees were and what they stood for but is also a significant contribution towards combatting anti-Judaism and anti-Semitism, which continue to blight our world.”
— Rabbi David Rosen
International Director of Interreligious Affairs, American Jewish Committee
“The editors of this book have assembled an international team of experts to consider the Pharisees from numerous angles, from how they are presented in ancient sources, including the books of the New Testament and rabbinic literature, to how they have been presented throughout subsequent centuries, whether by Jews or Christians, whether in writing, art, drama, or film. Practical suggestions for improvement in teaching and preaching cap the volume off. A rich offering indeed!”
— James C. VanderKam
University of Notre Dame
“Who hasn’t heard a homily denouncing the Pharisees as the archenemies of Jesus? This volume breaks open the complexity of the Pharisaic Movement and the stereotypical understanding that Christians have had of it, and it demonstrates the Pharisaic themes that positively influenced Jesus’s teachings. The inclusion of Pope Francis’s address on the Pharisees is a plus. The book is a must-read for anyone who preaches from the New Testament.”
— John T. Pawlikowski, OSM
professor emeritus at Catholic Theological Union and honorary life president of the International Council of Christians and Jews
“In this book is everything you’d want to know about the Pharisees, from ancient origins to modern films, from Jesus and the Pharisees to the Pharisees and the rabbis. Elegantly edited, the more than two dozen essays in this volume strike the ideal balance between scholarship and accessibility. Will appeal to many readers, from tyro to specialist.”
— Leonard Greenspoon
Creighton University
“This is a most welcome collection of essays. The volume not only assembles an outstanding group of scholars from diverse disciplines, including Hellenistic Judaism, the Dead Sea Scrolls, Second Temple archaeology, New Testament, rabbinics, and patristics, but it also has an admirable mission: to revise the stereotypical image of Pharisees that has fueled prejudice and anti-Semitism. T
Joseph Sievers has taught Jewish history and literature of the Hellenistic period at the Pontifical Biblical Institute since 1991. In addition, he served as director of the Cardinal Bea Centre for Judaic Studies at the Pontifical Gregorian University from 2003 to 2009. He has published several books and many articles, primarily in the areas of Second Temple history (especially Flavius Josephus) and Christian-Jewish relations. His abiding interest in the Pharisees was first expressed in an article titled "Who Were the Pharisees?" (1991).
Amy-Jill Levine is the University Professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies and the Mary Jane Werthan Chair of Jewish Studies Emerita at Vanderbilt University. Her numerous publications include The Misunderstood Jew: The Church and the Scandal of the Jewish Jesus; Short Stories by Jesus; The Gospel of Luke (with Ben Witherington III); The Jewish Annotated New Testament; The Bible With and Without Jesus: How Jews and Christians Read the Same Stories Differently (with Marc Brettler); and Sermon on the Mount: A Beginner's Guide to the Kingdom of Heaven.
Table of Contents
Prelude: What’s in a Name?
1. Interpreting the Name “Pharisee”
Craig E. Morrison
Part One: Historical Reconstruction
2. In Search of the Origins of the Pharisees
Vasile Babota
3. Purity Concerns and Common Judaism in Light of Archaeology
Eric M. Meyers
4. Pharisaic Halakah as Emerging from 4QMMT
Vered Noam
5. Josephus’s Pharisees
Steve Mason
6. Paul, the Perfectly Righteous Pharisee
Paula Fredriksen
7. Pharisees and Sadducees Together in Matthew
Henry Pattarumadathil
8. Polemic against the Pharisees in Matthew 23
Adela Yarbro Collins
9. Luke/Acts as a Source for the History of the Pharisees
Hermut Löhr
10. Pharisees in the Fourth Gospel and One Special Pharisee
Harold W. Attridge
11. The Shared Image of Pharisaic Law between the Gospels and Rabbinic Tradition
Yair Furstenberg
12. How Close Were Jesus and the Pharisees?
Jens Schröter
13. The Pharisees and the Rabbis: How Much Continuity?
Günter Stemberger
Part Two: Reception History
14. “Pharisees” and Early Christian Heresiology
Matthias Skeb
15. A Statistical Approach to Pharisaios and Pharisaikos in the Greek Fathers
Luca Angelelli
16. The Forgotten Pharisees
Shaye J. D. Cohen
17. The Perushim in the Understanding of the Medieval Jewish Sages
Abraham Skorka
18. The Pharisees in the Theology of Martin Luther and John Calvin
Randall Zachman
19. The Pharisees in Art
Angela La Delfa
20. A Brief, Personal History of the Oberammergau Passion Play
Christian Stückl
21. The Pharisees on Film
Adele Reinhartz
22. The Pharisees in Modern Scholarship
Susannah Heschel and Deborah Forger
23. A Textbook Case—the Pharisees in Catholic Religion Textbooks
Philip A. Cunningham
Part Three: Looking To the Future
24. Preaching and Teaching the Pharisees
Amy-Jill Levine
25. What Future for the Pharisees?
Massimo Grilli and Joseph Sievers
Appendix: Address of His Holiness Pope Francis to the Pontifical Biblical Institute