The Pharisees (Eerdmans, 2021), edited by Joseph Sievers and Amy-Jill Levine, is an important recent publication for readers of AJR and indeed all readers interested in Jewish history and Jewish/Christian relations.[1] This volume, with contributions from twenty-seven scholars of an international scope, is significant for numerous reasons, as the reviews in this AJR Forum make clear. For scholars of the pluriform nature of ancient Judaism, the volume will be celebrated for how it illumines one of Josephus’s schools of thought (αἱρέσεις; φιλοσοφίαι; cf. respectively Jewish Antiquities 13:171; 18.11). For others, especially those engaged in reception history or teaching ancient Judaism, the volume will be vital as it scrutinizes (usually Christian) sources that have vilified the Pharisees. For Jewish and Christian clergy and religious educators, the volume addresses Jewish-Christian relations from new and invigorating perspectives. In introducing this AJR Forum, we provide a brief overview of the volume and discuss the context out of which the volume emerged. We also speak to the special 2021 SBL session in which the volume was discussed as well as the importance of the volume in light of our times.
This volume is dedicated to exploring one of the most enigmatic communities from ancient Judaism–as the title suggests, the Pharisees–and does so helpfully from a variety of vantages. The Pharisees includes historical studies that range from archaeology and etymological investigation to contributions that take up the Pharisees in association with Dead Sea Scrolls, 1 Maccabees, Josephus, selections from the New Testament, and rabbinic literature. Contributions to the volume also treat robustly the reception history of the Pharisees, including how the Pharisees have been presented in heresiological contexts, by medieval Jewish sages, and by Protestant leaders. Essays on the Pharisees in art, film, the Oberammergau Passion play, as well as in modern scholarship, textbooks, and sermons round out attention to cultural reception. Especially helpful are the essays that also consider how people today and in the future, in academic and other contexts, should engage the Pharisees.
The volume has its origins in a 2019 conference hosted by the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome.[2] As one learns from the volume’s preface (pg. x), Rabbi David Rosen of the American Jewish Committee suggested to Joseph Sievers that an academic gathering to address the Pharisees, a major topic in Jewish-Christian relations, would be of value. Sievers pursued the suggestion and sought out an international array of specialists from a variety of backgrounds and disciplines to participate. The meeting, “Jesus and the Pharisees - An Interdisciplinary Reappraisal,” was held on May 7-9, 2019, and featured presentations from over 20 scholars. The meeting also included addresses from notable religious dignitaries and leaders such as Rabbi Riccardo S. Di Segni, Chief Rabbi of the Jewish Community of Rome; Rabbi David Rosen, American Jewish Committee; Bishop Ambrogio Spreafico, President of the Italian Bishops Conference's Commission for Ecumenism and Dialogue; and Pope Francis (whose contribution also appears in the published volume; pg. 441).
In addition to the (revised) papers presented at the conference, The Pharisees features additional essays solicited by the editors following the 2019 meeting. Due to the volume’s importance for scholars of ancient Judaism, interreligious dialogue, and biblical studies, The Pharisees was also the subject of a special session organized by the Enoch Seminar that was held virtually in association with the Society of Biblical Literature’s Annual Meeting (San Antonio, November 21, 2021). The Enoch Seminar, founded by Gabriele Boccaccini, is a forum dedicated to the study of early Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and values highly promoting dialogue among persons of different religious backgrounds.
Joshua Scott (Secretary of the Enoch Seminar and co-chair of the SBL’s Enoch Seminar section) played a critical role in the session’s success by inviting participants, liaising with the SBL leadership, and providing the technical infrastructure for the session. Kelley Coblentz Bautch (Vice-Director of the Enoch Seminar, who also attended the 2019 meeting in Rome) helped to coordinate reviewers’ contributions and presided over the session.
The editors of the volume, Joseph Sievers and Amy-Jill Levine were joined by three reviewers, Kathy Ehrensperger, Anders Runesson, and Elena Procario-Foley, and several contributors to the volume (Craig Morrison, Harold Attridge, Yair Furstenberg, and Philip Cunningham). The reviews are each focused on a particular section of the volume in order to avoid duplication in content. Subsequent to the SBL session, the editors of the volume also invited Scot McKnight to offer a review that would complement those of Ehrensperger, Runesson, and Procario-Foley. In light of the substantive nature of the volume and the engaging remarks of the reviewers, contributors and editors, more time for discussion than was available in November’s SBL session was a desideratum. The Enoch Seminar will host a second opportunity for discussion of The Pharisees from 9:00-11:00am and 1:00-3:00pm EST/New York Time on April 28, 2022. This half-day seminar will review the volume and situate it within ongoing Jewish-Christian relations (see http://enochseminar.org/virtual-book-reviews for additional event details).
The Pharisees covers significant ground from examining the historical origins of the group to reception traditions of the Pharisees by various individuals and communities. The volume is also important not only for the sake of scholars of antiquity. Recent antisemitic activities remind us that scholars examining and complicating the representations of Jews in the New Testament can help to disrupt bigoted assertions that sometimes draw uncritically on Christian traditions. Sievers and Levine’s edited volume is critical to us all, and we should be discussing it with colleagues, students, and our respective communities.
[1] The volume has also been published in Italian: I farisei (Milan: San Paulo 2021).
[2] In cooperation and with the support of the American Jewish Committee, the Cardinal Bea Centre for Judaic Studies of the Pontifical Gregorian University, the Italian Bishops Conference, and the software company Verbum (Faithlife).
Pharisees Part One: Historical Reconstruction
“This literary image of Pharisees has been conflated with Jews generally and been attributed to real people in the here and now of all centuries over and over again. The narratives have been read historically, as accurately real life people – with all the horrific consequences emanating from this equation.”
Who Needs the Pharisees? New Testament and Beyond
“Who needs the Pharisees?” – it seems that, on the whole, we today, both Jews and Christians, need them more than anyone has ever done before, but for very different reasons. And we need them in academic historical, non-polemical form.
Pharisees Part Two: Reception History
“My comments intend to address primarily those who have not yet read the book, to provide a brief taste of my assigned chapters, and to reflect on the significance of this work for Jewish-Christian relations, especially in terms of community engagement and education.”
Pharisees and Evangelical Preaching
“Evangelical Christian faith and Jewish faith, with all their nuances and varieties, have every right to dialogue, debate, and disagreement, but when criticism of the Pharisees crosses the line into maligning persons with whom we differ we need to raise a flag of denunciation.”