One of the most compelling themes throughout The Mythmaker is how New Testament writers, foremost Paul, demonized the Jews to make a new religion. Part of this demonization is a brutal and twisted portrayal of the Pharisees who are shown to be “the chief opponents of Jesus” and plotters to kill him. That the Pharisees are unfairly demonized in the NT speaks to how the Pharisees have been a stand-in for Jews in general, and this misrepresentation has contributed to anti-Antisemitism.
Maccoby and others call this portrayal of the Pharisees propaganda. Pharisees were not severe and hateful biblical literalists; rather, they were “creative” and more benevolent than the NT would have us believe.
They were also tolerant of disagreement and resolved disagreements with majority vote (21).
In spite of their usual tolerance, they did have enmity with the Sadducees, especially their disagreement over the Oral Law, rejected by the Sadducees. Because of this rejection, the Pharisees considered them to be heretics.
Maccoby paints the Pharisees as more democratic and taking wisdom from all economic classes and believing in “universal education” whereas the Sadducees are more rigidly focused on three things: “the Bible, the Temple, and the priesthood.” As such, the Sadducees were more elitist. They “regarded themselves as defending the status quo against the innovations of the Pharisees.”
We also read that during Jesus’ time, the High Priesthood was corrupt but not held in high regard by the Pharisees who saw the Priesthood as an insignificant part of their theology (27).
Maccoby ends the chapter by stating that in Chapter 4, he will argue that the NT misrepresents history and the Pharisees in this regard: “In particular, a flood of light can be thrown on the New Testament story by bearing in mind the deep antagonism between the Pharisee movement and the High Priest of that period, not only a Sadducee, but an appointee of the Romans and a quisling collaborator with the Roman power.”
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