After the destruction of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 CE, Judaism itself might have disappeared had it not been for the Pharisees. The Pharisees’ reputation in the New Testament (NT) as rigid legalists is ill-deserved, according to some modern NT scholars. They were, in fact, a devout lay group who had developed a flexible and creative approach to the interpretation of Scripture and had also fostered ways of bringing the prayers of the Temple into Jewish homes. When the Temple was lost, they provided the foundations for a continuing and vital Judaism. As the ancestors of modern rabbinic Judaism, they deserve the respect of modern Christians.

Why, then, are the Pharisees vilified in the NT? The answer does not lie in the time of Jesus. Indeed, many of the teachings of Jesus are so close to those of the Pharisees that some scholars have proposed that he is shown arguing with them because he was a member of their school. Judaism before the fall of the Temple was tolerant of many different forms of expression, and historical studies suggest that Christianity did not begin as a consciously separate religion, but a new formulation of the ancient Jewish faith. After the Temple fell, however, Judaism regrouped and the Pharisaic leaders became less tolerant of diversity within their ranks. In that new atmosphere, Jewish followers of Jesus were regarded with suspicion and put out of the synagogues. The Christian-Jewish community responded with anger. In the context of the post-seventies, the Pharisees appeared hostile to Jesus, and it is that hostility (and their own anger) that the evangelists retroactively projected into their accounts of Jesus’ time. As I have so very many times attempted to share with my readers, there is no real indication from the teachings of Jesus that He intended to found a new religion. I know that this flies in the face of many Christians who want to believe that He did. Indeed Jesus wanted to reform Judaism, that is quite clear. But so did other Jewish groups at His time (the Essenes being one group. They were responsible for the Dead Sea Scrolls. They were a sect of Second Temple Judaism that flourished from the 2nd century BCE to the 1st century CE which some scholars claim seceded from the Zadokite priests. Some claim that Jesus actually studied with them).

The events of history set the stage for Christianity to become a religion!