New Testament Vocabulary Pharisees, Essenes, and Sadducees

New Testament Vocabulary

Pharisees, Essenes, and Sadducees were three major sects or practices of Judaism at the time of Christ. The Pharisees and Sadducees were the two more powerful and influential sects, the Essenes were much smaller in number and less influential. The Sadducees derived their name from Zadok, the High Priest of David and Solomon: their version of Judaism was centered strictly on the text of the Torah and the temple rites. Sadducees tended to come from the highest ranks of Jewish society. The Pharisees by contrast had an oral tradition beyond the written text of the Torah, and were the more popular and democratic sect -- Pharisaic Judaism would become the basis for contemporary (Rabbinic) Judaism. There was political and social disagreement between Pharisees and Sadducees: they were essentially rival sects. The Essenes were, by contrast, apolitical ascetic separatists: the Dead Sea Scrolls are widely thought to have been from an Essene community. There are some similarities between the Essenes and the description of John the Baptist in the New Testament, however the Essenes are never referred to by name in the New Testament. The Pharisees and Sadducees are named in the New Testament, where they are presented as antagonists of Jesus.

Diaspora-is a Greek word meaning "dispersion" or "scattering" but is most commonly used to refer to the expulsion of Jews from Israel after its conquest by Babylon and the destruction of the First Temple.

Textual criticism is the examination of ancient texts according to scientific principles attempting to establish how the text was created and replicated throughout history. Textual criticism of the Old Testament, for example, notes that there are different Hebrew words used to refer to God (Yahweh, Elohim) and that the writing style of these passages is notably different in other ways as well, thus suggesting multiple scribal authors who were combined into a single text at a later date.

The Cynics, founders of Cynicism, derived their name from the Greek word for "dog." Their most noteworthy adherent was Diogenes. Their doctrine survives in anecdotes recorded by later writers -- we have no primary texts written by the Cynics -- but it seems that they adhered to a simple life, in accordance with nature, and free of refinements, like desire for worldy goods, honor, or social respectability. The comparison to dogs by their detractors was because of the simplicity of what they preached.

Marcion-was an early Christian whose doctrines -- known as Marcionite Christianity -- would eventually be rejected by mainstream Christianity as heretical. Marcion's chief heretical idea was a distaste for -- and a total rejection of -- the Old Testament scriptures. He thought the God of the Old Testament so different from the God depicted in the New Testament that he essentially advanced a form of Christianity which rejected the Old Testament entirely.