Hypocrites or Heroes?: The Paradoxical Portrayal of the Pharisees in the New Testament by Roger Amos

Author:Roger Amos [Amos, Roger]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
ISBN: 9781498220286
Publisher: Wipf & Stock, an Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers
Published: 2015-05-06T16:00:00+00:00

must be established either by attestations (in which a law is presumed in an argument by a named authority) or by the logical development of the mishnaic law (in which a fundamental principle or generative concept is anterior to a later law) . . . literary criteria can yield no comprehensible, reliable results because the Mishnah has been so thoroughly edited and historical criteria cannot give a social context because the laws have been placed in a timeless ideal synthesis of Jewish life . . .127

Using Neusner’s criteria most of the material from the Mishnah and Tosefta which are probably typical of the first century and therefore a reliable basis for the reconstruction of the Pharisees prove to be concerned with ritual purity, tithes and other food laws and Sabbath and festival observance. “These laws set out an agenda of holiness for the land and people which was a fitting response for a powerless people dominated by the Romans because these laws pertain to the parts of domestic life which can be controlled by people out of power . . .”128 It is reassuring that these concerns also appear in New Testament references to the Pharisees, each thereby corroborating the other.

Saldarini’s belief that Pharisaism was one of a number of competing forms of Judaism129 underlies his insistence that Pharisaic law exhibits sectarian interests. For example, he claims that the emphases on strict tithing, the maintenance of ritual purity by non-priests and on observance of Sabbaths and other festivals reflects their “program for a renewed Judaism.”130 He points out that the Rabbinical literature often mentions associations or fellowships, some which have been identified with the Pharisees. Best known are the “associates” in Mishnah Tractate Demai, whose special concerns—tithing and ritual purity—accord well with Pharisaism, although there were other associations with other concerns. The Hebrew terms used, haberim for “associates” and haburah for “association,” are common words with no technical meanings, despite the attempts of some scholars to insist that they apply to one single grouping.131

Saldarini reproduces a brief passage from M. Demai 2:2–3 which is particularly revealing:

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