From BISHOP RICHARD J. SKLBA's chapter in Jesus Wasn't Killed by the Jews, 2020
Ever since the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947, our understanding of the rich diversity of Jewish religious life in ancient Jerusalem and Judea has been greatly enhanced. The variety of interacting and sometimes rival movements during the first century of our Common Era, each with its own devout following, has become a fascinating field of study. It has revealed the context for the vibrant multifaceted Judaism of its day and the initial appearance of what came to be called Christianity.
The Sadducees, for example, with adherents mostly from prominent priestly families, were committed to the literally interpreted texts of the Torah.
They lived beside others, however, who were dedicated to the Pharisaic movement and its concern for the value of oral tradition with a conviction regarding the possibility of human resurrection.
Zealots were willing to employ force if needed to reject domination by Rome's army.
A surprisingly wide spectrum within Hellenistic Judaism also claimed loyal adherents within the population of Jerusalem. The Essenes felt obliged to leave the Temple, which they saw as utterly defiled, and to establish a quasi-monastic residence down in the salted areas around the Dead Sea as they awaited the appearance of the Righteous Teacher who would establish what would be true Judaism.
Each group gathered around its own synagogue where available and sometimes accepted the presence of God-fearing Gentiles who respected the convictions of its members without adopting the external dietary or physical marks of Judaism. It was a very rich diversity.
That emerging presence of Jewish followers of Jesus hailing him as crucified and risen from the dead added even more controversial diversity to religious life in first-century Judaism. Though Jesus himself had claimed a place within the Pharisaic tradition and entered vigorously all the religious arguments of his day, his followers gradually distanced themselves from their Jewish neighbors.
The deepening convictions of early Jewish Christians about the divinity of Jesus led Pharisees to be alarmed, and, conversely, the movement of Jewish groups toward revolution against harsh Roman authorities moved early Christian Jewish communities to see the need to distance themselves, in turn, from the increasingly dangerous politics of first-century Jewish life. ...
The dramatic movement of young Saul of Tarsus from ardent Pharisaism to a more messianic type of Judaism marked off yet another branch of Jewish life centered on the life and teaching of Jesus from Nazareth. Saul was later called Paulus (Latin and Greek replacing the Hebrew, literally meaning “Shortie”), or Paul, after his dramatic transition from a persecuting Jewish vigilante to a preaching Christian missionary. He wrote from his vantage point in the second stage of the Christian message's development, namely, the postresurrection statements of faith. Paul's letters to the communities he founded around the Mediterranean are filled with his convictions regarding the resurrection of Jesus and its implications both for the life of every individual and for the world in which they lived.
