Lecture FOUR (Asynchronous): The World Behind the Text • Worksheet

4.0 Bridging to ‘Lecture’ FOUR

• Reading the Bible as a text for adults in a complex world (then and now)
• At the end of Lecture THREE (29.09.21 at 43’03”), we began to read the Parable of the Lost Sons
(more commonly known as the Parable of the Prodigal Son). Your initial reactions helped open the
parable in an adult key: you noted its perennial character of the parable, as well as its
dimensions of sibling rivalry, financial loss, loss of face and status, the characterisation of the
elder son as angry (world of the text), the effects of anger among the characters in the parable
(world of the text) and for the audience (world before the text), the anthropology operative in the
parable (world of the text), the narrative’s lack of resolution (open ending), its aims (its
rhetoric—where it seeks to bring its audience).
• In Lecture FOUR we return to the Story of the Anointing Woman (in Luke 7: 36–50, and also pp.
1–2 above), and look at it from the perspective of the world out of which it came (the world
behind the text). In order to do this you might read pages 146–55 of the course textbook: John
Barton’s The Bible: the Basics (available both in hardcopy and online [via the Library website].
4.1 Read Again the Narrative of the Anointing Woman (Luke 7: 36–50)
• List THREE observations

• List TWO questions you have. (Remember: questions mirror engagement!)

4.2 Listen to Séamus and Anne discuss it. (Recording on Moodle)

• List TWO observations

• Note any further questions.

4.3 Groupings and ‘Parties’ in Second Temple Judaism

At the time of Jesus, Judaism had a different form, in early Judaism, and to its form today. In the
Late Second Temple Period, the period in which Jesus lived, a number of groupings within Judaism
permit us to locate and understand Jesus. This is especially true of i) the Pharisees, ii) the
Sadducees, and iii) the Essenes, but less true of (iv), the Zealots. Read Barton, 146–49; the
following may help clarify some of your questions.
4.3.1 Pharisees: Origins and Tendencies (SOC: the real heroes and saviours of Judaism!!!)
The Pharisees were a particular religious and political group of devout Jews that arose at
the beginning of the Hasmonean Period around 150 BC. They represented one specific
religious and political response to the crisis of Hellenization unleashed by Antiochus IV
and his Jewish supporters… In the face of a perceived threat to the continued existence of
Jews as distinct ethnic, cultural and religious entity in the ancient Near East, the Pharisees
emphasised the zealous and detailed study of the Mosaic Law, the careful observance of
legal obligations in concrete areas of life such as tithing, purity laws (…), the keeping of
the Sabbath, marriage and divorce and temple ritual.
John P. Meier, A Marginal Jew Vol. 3: Companions and Competitors, (ABRL; New York:
Doubleday, 2001), 330 [232.9 MEI]

• From a political perspective: the Pharisees ‘generally did not have direct power as a group and were
not members of the governing class. They were members of a literate, corporate, voluntary
association which constantly sought influence with the governing class. As such they were
above the peasants and other lower classes but dependent on the governing class for their place
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 in society. They were found in Jerusalem, and they probably fulfilled administrative or
bureaucratic functions in society at certain times.’
• From a social perspective: the Pharisees ‘probably functioned as a social movement organization
seeking to change society … [They] probably sought a new communal commitment to a strict
Jewish way of life based on adherence to the covenant.’
• At least some Pharisees, like Saul/Paul, understood Pharisaic practice and belief within
an overarching (perhaps apocalyptic) view of salvation history, where the Law had a
salvific role leading up to the coming of the Messiah. (Meier, 330)
• Unlike the Sadducees, Pharisees were particularly zealous “in spreading [their] own view
of Judaism among the people at large,” (e.g., see Mt 23:15) and were thus “active
influential among the common people.” (331)
Ø ØNote ONE observation about the Pharisees

4.3.2 The Sadducees (SOC: the ‘establishment’ at prayer!!) [see ABD art. “Sadducees”]
• From a social perspective: the Sadducees were concentrated about Jerusalem and according to
Josephus, they did not have the support of the masses and enjoyed only the ‘confidence of the
wealthy.’ It is generally assumed—though impossible to prove at present—that the Sadducees
were the Palestinian aristocracy. ‘Many brief treatments of the Sadducees describe them as a
priestly caste who were very Hellenized, pro-Roman, and worldly rather than religious. … They
may have been an elite drawn form the noble priestly groups and the aristocratic laity.’ [R. E.
Brown, The Death of the Messiah, (New York: Doubleday, 1994), 351]. It is to be remembered
that the ‘priest’ [Hebrew, kohen] had a cultic and ritual role in Judaism, not a pastoral,
ministerial role.
• From a religious perspective: they ‘would have followed the written Law of Moses. Perhaps one
should add ‘at least,’ for inevitably the Sadducees would have developed some customs that
went beyond the written Law.’ [Brown, Death of the Messiah, 351] ‘Each group [in the NT
period] would claim that it alone was faithful to the Law and that it taught only things
contained in the Law.’ From the rabbinic sources it appears that a basic issue separating
Sadducees and Pharisees was ritual purity.
• From a political perspective: Many “aspects of Jesus’ background converged to put him on a
collision course with Caiphas and the Jerusalem priesthood: he was a no-account Galilean in
conflict with Jerusalem aristocrats: he was (relative to his opponents) a poor peasant in conflict
with the urban rich; he was a charismatic wonderworker in conflict very much with priests very
much concerned about preserving the central institutions of their religion and their smooth
operation; he was an eschatological prophet promising the coming of God’s kingdom in
conflict with Sadducean politicians having a vested interest in the status quo.” [Meier, A
Marginal Jew, Vol. 1 (New York: Doubleday, 1991), 347].
Ø ØNote ONE observation about the Sadducees
4.3.3 The Essenes (SOC: extreme sectarians out in the desert)
• From a religious perspective: “Their preoccupation with purity is evident in many of their practices
including celibacy, avoidance of oil … ritual baths, praying towards the sun and communal
meals. The meal is ritualized by the prayers of a priest both before and after. A more
conventional aspect of their piety is the devotion to the Law.”
• The Dead Sea Scrolls [DSS] ‘The scrolls are usually thought to constitute the library of the
community which inhabited the site at Qumran and whose way of life is described in the Rule of
the Community form Cave 1. [The library was most likely hidden in the caves around Qumran

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 prior to the advance of Vespasian’s army on its way to lay siege to Massada in late 70 AD.] The
initial find was in 1947 (Cave 1) and finds continued until 1956 (Cave 11). The largest find was
Cave 4 in 1952 which yielded thousands of fragments from more than 500 manuscripts.’ (J. J.
Collins, Art., “Dead Sea Scrolls”, ADB). The importance of the DSS is twofold:
1) The biblical MSS among the DSS witness to a biblical text which is almost 1,000
years older than any full biblical text known prior to 1947.
2) The non-biblical DSS provide unprecedented contemporary documentary access to
a living part of Judaism in the First AD.
Ø Ø Note ONE observation about the Essenes (aka the Qumranites) • Who are they like today? Why?

4.3.4 The Zealots [see ABD art. “Zealots”]

In the final two centuries of the Second Temple Period, ‘zealot’ became a technical term for a
model of piety rooted in zeal for God and the Law. Zealots were so-called because of their
zealous love for the Land and a matching rejection of their Roman overlords.
• From a religious perspective: ‘Reflecting Israelite belief that God does not like the half-hearted,
‘zealot, zealous’ could be used of those who ardently protected God’s interest. … There was,
however, also a more specific use of ‘zealot’ to refer to the Zealots, a group of people, mostly
young, who had taken an oath to act fanatically and without mercy against every person who
stood in the way of their vision of cultic purity in relation to the Law and to the Temple.’
[Brown, The Death of the Messiah, 689] The category of Zealot ‘would not have been applicable
to Jesus or his followers … [principally because, at the time of Jesus], the style of Roman
governance in Judea did not yet spawn such violent revolutionary movements.’ [Ibid., 692]
• From a political perspective: in the NT period, the ‘Zealots were a coalition of lower priests,
Jerusalem insurgents, and refugee bandit groups from the countryside who overthrew the
provisional government in 68 CE in order to assure the successful prosecution of the (First
Jewish) Revolt. Their major goal was political independence from the Romans. They opposed
Jews with power and privilege, set up their headquarters in the temple, and established an
alternative egalitarian government.’

4.4 An Important Sub-Group (Religious Elite)—the Scribes

The NT pictures ancient Jewish scribes as a unified group, almost unanimously opposed
to Jesus (Mark 12:28–34 is an exception). But it generally lumps together Jewish
leadership groups with little regard for their differences.
Frederick J. Murphy, Early Judaism (Peabody: Hendrickson, 2002), 216
The gospels testify most reliably to scribes connected to the government in Jerusalem where their
role seems to be as associates of the priests both in juridical proceedings, enforcement of Jewish
custom and law and on-going business in the Sanhedrin. The gospel traditions about scribes may
reflect the opposition of many scattered local officials to early Christian communities before and
after the First Jewish Revolt [66–70AD], and perhaps opposition to Jesus also. [225.95 SAL]
A. J. Saldarini, Pharisees, Scribes and Sadducees in Palestinian Society: (Wilmington: Glazier, 1988), 268.

4.5 Drawing All This Together

Christianity emerged out of Judaism, and that didn’t happen overnight. The gospels are not only
a window on Jesus, but permit us to eavesdrop some of the issues that came to the fore for
various forms of Christianity in its first hundred years. This perspective might help us appreciate
why the Pharisees get such a bad press in the gospels or why the ‘elder’ son (in Greek, the presbyter son) is so
upset when the ‘upstart’ son (the ‘new kid on the block) seems to get such preferential treatment.

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