interpretation of the commandments made the sect capable of
surviving the destruction of the Temple.The Pharisees and the Christians
• After the destruction of the Temple at the end of the Jewish War,
two groups of Jews emerged as rivals for the heritage of Israel: the
Pharisees, whose dedication to Torah would develop into classical
Talmudic Judaism, and the Christians, whose central symbol of
a crucified and raised Messiah was even more adaptable to new
circumstances. Both found their future as intentional communities,
or associations, within the empire.
• In the next lecture, we’ll learn about the Jesus movement and
the birth of Christianity and see how this new “thing” in the
Mediterranean world created profound tensions within the symbolic
world of Judaism.The Essenes at Qumran near the Dead Sea adopted a stance of physical and
ritual withdrawal; their interpretation of themselves as the fulfillment of Torah’s
prophecies mirrored later Christians’ interpretations of themselves in relation
to Torah.
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