mcommini wrote: ↑02 Dec 2022, 12:08
Hugo Drax wrote: ↑02 Dec 2022, 09:12
Del wrote: ↑02 Dec 2022, 08:20
But at our common core, we're all just Pharisaic Judaism.
'Strewth. Perspicacious, even.
I am absolutely, 100 percent, guilty as charged.
But He loves me anyway, and I can't fathom why.
Speak for yourselves. As for me, I'm just glad I'm not like those sinful Protestants...
I have a feeling that the meaning of my post went over some heads.
Theotokos forgive me for stepping off topic...
There were many sects of Judaism at the time of Christ. Pharisees, Sadducees, Zealots, Essenes are still known of today. There were many more in the northern regions of Samaria and Galilee.
It was the Pharisees who instituted the synagogue system, expanding the reach of teaching and spiritual participation to those who were not within easy travel of Jerusalem and the Temple. It was the Pharisees who translated the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek (Septuagint) so that their diaspora throughout the world could know God even if they did not speak Hebrew. They developed a sacramental system that offered the grace of atonement and participation without having to make physical sacrifices at the Temple in Jerusalem.
Jesus was a Pharisee. He looked and dressed like a Pharisee. The Samaritan Woman at the Well (John 4) immediately recognized Jesus as an observant Jew who would normally avoid even speaking with a Samaritan.
When Jesus entered a town like Capernaum, He went straight the Pharisaic synagogue and preached there. People addressed Him as "rabbi," the title of a Pharisaic teacher.
This is why it was often a scandal that Jesus and His disciples did not follow every jot and tittle that was taught by the Pharisees. They grabbed and snacked on handfuls of ripe grain -- on the Sabbath! They walked and cured the sick -- on the Sabbath! Such were not the actions of righteous Pharisees.
After the Resurrection, Jesus called Saul (Paul), among the greatest of living Pharisaic rabbis, to be His greatest missionary Apostle. Paul traveled the ancient world, always starting in each city by delivering the Good News to the local Jews in their synagogue. Some rejected his message (violently), but others like the Bereans were praised for being receptive to the message (as evidenced by their willingness to review the Septuagint and verify Paul's interpretation of prophecies).
Paul's way of teaching -- and his habit of writing authoritative letters -- reflects his formation as an elite rabbi. St. Luke recorded even more of Paul's teaching. As a result, our canon of the Old Testament and much of our New Testament are the direct result of Pharisaic Judaism.
Our practice of sacramental worship throughout the world comes to us from the Pharisees.
After the Siege of Jerusalem in 70 AD, the Temple was destroyed. The Jewish Temple-centered sects and the various minor sects all died out. All that remained were the Pharisees and their synagogues which survived throughout the world.
Among the Pharisees, there were those who did not accept Christ. Their descendants (and their theology) are the Jews we know today.
And then there were the Pharisees and gentiles who accepted Christ and the teaching of His Apostles. These people (and their theology) are the Apostolic Christians of today. The Orthodox of the East and the Catholics of the West.
Modern Jews and modern Apostolic Christians are -- at our core -- Pharisaic Judaism.