Jesus Remembered: Christianity in the Making, vol. 1

§9.3 The Historical Context
'within Judaism' or emerging from 'within Judaism', we will have to be conscious
of the strong nationalist overtones in the term's early use, and of the degree
to which national and religious identity were fused in the one word — including
not only differentiation from but also a certain hostility to the other
nations and their religious practices.
9.3. The Diversity of Judaism — Judaism from Without
What counts as Judaism in Palestine in the first century? What falls within the
scope of 'Judaism' in the late Second Temple period? How broad and encompassing
was or can 'Judaism' be (from our perspective) as a historical description?
A natural and popular response has been to look at the different groups and
writings of the period. And though this approach is open to objection, as we shall
see, a description of these groups and writings does form an important part of our
understanding of first-century Judaism, particularly of its diversity. In this section,
then, our first objective is, briefly, to give some indication of the range of
practice and belief covered by (Palestinian/late Second Temple) 'Judaism' as a
phenomenological description. 43 In each case the key question is: If this too is
'Judaism', what does that tell us about 'Judaism'? Although much of the evidence
available is fragmentary, often hostile and sometimes minimal, in most
cases we have enough information to work with, and modern treatments have improved
markedly in quality and reliability over the last two decades.
a. The Four 'Sects'
The usual starting point has been Josephus' 'four philosophies' or 'sects'
(haireseis) 44 — not unnaturally since Josephus' way of introducing them seems
to imply that these were the only groupings among the Jews worthy of attention
on the part of his readers (War 2.119-166; Ant. 18.11-25). 45 To begin with
43. The objective is limited: I have no intention of attempting a full description of the
groups and elements which made up Second Temple Judaism.
44. Note the various discussions on the use of terms like 'sect' in S. J. D. Cohen, From
the Maccabees to the Mishnah (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1987) ch. 5; A. J. Saldarini, Pharisees,
Scribes and Sadducees in Palestinian Society (Edinburgh: Clark, 1988) particularly 70-
73, 123-27 (Saldarini prefers the translation 'schools of thought'); M. Hengel and R. Deines,
'E. P. Sanders' "Common Judaism", Jesus, and the Pharisees', JTS 46 (1995) 1-70 (here 43-
45); a fuller version in Hengel, Judaica et Hellenistica: Kleine Schriften I (WUNT 90;
Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1996) 392-479.
45. In reference to the debate as to whether Josephus really thought of four rather than
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