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APOSTLE PAUL: THE ARCHITECT AND BUILDER OF THE CHURCH<br />
M. M. NINAN<br />
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Pharisees (fâr`ĭsēz), one of the two great Jewish religious and political parties of the second<br />
commonwealth. Their opponents were the Sadducees, and it appears that the Sadducees<br />
gave them their name, perushim, Hebrew for "separatists" or "deviants."<br />
The Pharisees began their activities during or after the Hasmonean revolt (c.166–142 B.C.).<br />
The Pharisees upheld an interpretation of Judaism that was in opposition to the priestly<br />
Temple cult.<br />
They stressed faith in the one God; the divine revelation of the law both written and oral<br />
handed down by Moses through Joshua, the elders, and the prophets to the Pharisees; and<br />
eternal life and resurrection for those who keep the law. Pharisees insisted on the strict<br />
observance of Jewish law, which they began to codify. While in agreement on the broad<br />
outlines of Jewish law, the Pharisees encouraged debate on its fine points, and according to<br />
one view, practiced the tradition of zuggot, or pairs of scholars with opposing views.<br />
They developed the synagogue as an alternative place of worship to the Temple, with a<br />
liturgy consisting of biblical and prophetic readings, and the repetition of the shma, the basic<br />
creed of Judaism. In addition, they supported the separation of the worldly and the spiritual<br />
spheres, ceding the former to the secular rulers. Though some supported the revolt against<br />
Rome in A.D. 70, most did not.<br />
One Pharisee was Yohanan ben Zakkai, who fled to Jamnia, where he was instrumental in<br />
developing post-Temple Judaism. By separating Judaism from dependence on the Temple<br />
cult, and by stressing the direct relation between the individual and God, the Pharisees laid<br />
the groundwork for normative rabbinic Judaism. Their influence on Christianity was<br />
substantial as well, despite the passages in the New Testament which label the Pharisees<br />
"hypocrites" or "offspring of the vipers." St. <strong>Paul</strong> was originally a Pharisee. After the fall of the<br />
Temple (A.D. 70), the Pharisees became the dominant party until c.135
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