New Testament Vocabulary

Pharisees, Essenes, and Sadducees were three major sects or practices of Judaism at the time of Christ. The Pharisees and Sadducees were the two more powerful and influential sects, the Essenes were much smaller in number and less influential. The Sadducees derived their name from Zadok, the High Priest of David and Solomon: their version of Judaism was centered strictly on the text of the Torah and the temple rites. Sadducees tended to come from the highest ranks of Jewish society. The Pharisees by contrast had an oral tradition beyond the written text of the Torah, and were the more popular and democratic sect -- Pharisaic Judaism would become the basis for contemporary (Rabbinic) Judaism. There was political and social disagreement between Pharisees and Sadducees: they were essentially rival sects. The Essenes were, by contrast, apolitical ascetic separatists: the Dead Sea Scrolls are widely thought to have...
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