Editing Pharisees (section)

==Beliefs==
At first, the values of the Pharisees developed through their sectarian debates with the Sadducees; then, they developed through internal, non-sectarian debates over the law as an adaptation to life without the Temple, and life in exile, and eventually, to a more limited degree, life in conflict with Christianity.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Philip S. Alexander |editor1-last=Dunn |editor1-first=James D. G. |title=Jews and Christians : the parting of the ways, A.D. 70 to 135 : the second Durham-Tübingen Research Symposium on Earliest Christianity and Judaism (Durham, September 1989) |date=7 April 1999 |publisher=W.B. Eerdmans |isbn=0802844987 |pages=1–25}}</ref> These shifts mark the transformation of Pharisaic to Rabbinic Judaism.

No single tractate of the key rabbinic texts, the Mishnah and the Talmud, is devoted to theological issues; these texts are concerned primarily with interpretations of Jewish law, and anecdotes about the sages and their values. Only one chapter of the Mishnah deals with theological issues; it asserts that three kinds of people will have no share in "the [[world to come]]:" those who deny the [[resurrection of the dead]], those who deny the [[Torah#Divine significance of letters, Jewish mysticism|divinity of the Torah]], and [[Epicurean]]s (who deny divine supervision of human affairs). Another passage suggests a different set of core principles: normally, a Jew may violate any law to save a life, but in Sanhedrin 74a, a ruling orders Jews to accept [[martyr]]dom rather than violate the laws against idolatry, murder, or adultery. (Judah ha-Nasi, however, said that Jews must "be meticulous in small religious duties as well as large ones, because you do not know what sort of reward is coming for any of the religious duties," suggesting that all laws are of equal importance).

=== Monotheism ===
One belief central to the Pharisees which was shared by all Jews of the time is [[monotheism]]. This is evident in the practice of reciting the {{transliteration|he|[[Shema]]}}, a prayer composed of select verses from the [[Torah]] (Deuteronomy 6:4), at the Temple and in synagogues; the {{transliteration|he|Shema}} begins with the verses, "Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God; the Lord is one." According to the Mishna, these passages were recited in the Temple, along with the twice-daily {{transliteration|he|Tamid}} offering; Jews in the [[diaspora]], who did not have access to the Temple, recited these passages in their houses of assembly. According to the Mishnah and Talmud, the men of the [[Great Assembly]] instituted the requirement that Jews both in Judea and in the diaspora pray three times per day (morning, afternoon, and evening), and include in their prayers a recitation of these passages in the morning ({{transliteration|he|[[Shacharit]]}}) and evening ({{transliteration|he|[[Jewish services|Ma'ariv]]}}) prayers.

=== Wisdom ===
Pharisaic wisdom was compiled in one book of the Mishna, {{transliteration|he|[[Pirkei Avot]]}}. The Pharisaic attitude is perhaps{{Citation needed|date=March 2022}} best exemplified by a story about the sages [[Hillel the Elder]] and [[Shammai]], who both lived in the latter half of the 1st century BC. A gentile once challenged Shammai to teach him the wisdom of the Torah while he stood on one foot. Shammai drove him away. The same gentile approached Hillel and asked of him the same thing. Hillel chastised him gently by saying, "That which is hateful to you do not do to another; that is the entire Torah, and the rest is its interpretation. Go study."<ref>Talmud, [https://www.sefaria.org.il/Shabbat.31a.6?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en Shabbat 31a]</ref>

=== Free will and predestination ===
According to Josephus, whereas the Sadducees believed that people have total [[free will]] and the Essenes believed that all of a person's life is [[Predestination|predestined]], the Pharisees believed that people have free will, but that God also has foreknowledge of human [[destiny]]. This also accords with the statement in {{transliteration|he|Pirkei Avot}} 3:19, "Rabbi Akiva said: All is foreseen, but freedom of choice is given."

=== Afterlife ===
{{See also|Afterlife|Sheol}}
Unlike the Sadducees, who are generally held to have rejected any existence after death, the sources vary on the beliefs of the Pharisees on the afterlife. According to the New Testament, the Pharisees believed in the [[resurrection of the dead]].<ref>{{bibleverse|Acts|23.8}}</ref> According to Josephus, the Pharisees held that only the soul was immortal, and the souls of good people would be [[resurrection|resurrected]] or [[reincarnation|reincarnated]]<ref>John Hick (''Death & Eternal Life'', 1994, p. 395) interprets Josephus to be most likely talking about resurrection, while Jason von Ehrenkrook ("The Afterlife in Philo and Josephus", in ''Heaven, Hell, and the Afterlife: Eternity in Judaism'', ed. J. Harold Ellens; vol. 1, pp. 97–118) understands the passage to refer to reincarnation</ref> and "pass into other bodies," while "the souls of the wicked will suffer eternal punishment."<ref>Josephus ''Jewish War'' 2.8.14; cf. ''Antiquities'' 8.14–15.</ref> [[Paul the Apostle]] declared himself to be a Pharisee, even after his belief in Jesus.<ref>Acta 23.6, 26.5.</ref><ref name="Schnelle2013">{{cite book|author=Udo Schnelle|title=Apostle Paul: His Life and Theology|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f-6wBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT51|date= 2013|publisher=Baker Publishing Group|isbn=978-1-4412-4200-6|pages=51–}}</ref>