Jeremy Rosen
Sects and Heretics
Summary
An examination of the historical divisions within Judaism, focusing on the emergence of theological differences during the exile in Babylon, the split with the Samaritans, and later conflicts involving the Sadducees and Pharisees. Also explored are the evolving concepts of heresy within Judaism, noting the absence of a formal creed and the challenges posed by external influences, particularly during the Christian era.
Jeremy Rosen
Manchester-born Jeremy Rosen was educated at Cambridge University England and Mir Yeshiva in Jerusalem. He has practiced as an orthodox rabbi, as principal of Carmel College in the UK, and as professor at the Faculty for Comparative Religion in Antwerp, Belgium. He has written and lectured extensively in the UK and the US, where he now resides and was the rabbi of the Persian-Jewish community in Manhattan.
Nothing that Jesus says in the New Testament can have been really threatening to either of them. He wasn’t saying I don’t like the temple. He was criticising hypocrisy, which everybody was. They would’ve just thought of him as being a lunatic maybe. And then the question is politically on what side was he? It’s true the Sadducees didn’t like rebels and if he was a rebel against Sadducee authority, they’d have been very unhappy. But half the Pharisees were rebels against authority. And so, I can’t think of any reason why either the Sadducees or the Pharisees would’ve had much of a problem with him.
Yes, he did, but it depended which ones. It wasn’t that simple. But yes, he was inclined to be more lenient.