I found myself earlier this AM deep in a part of the Bible I'd never seen, much less read, and it was there all the time. Since it was audiobook, with poor chapter announcements, I may not have it right, but it was Acts/Romans material. It was all about the philosophical differences between Sadducees and Pharisees, and then when I got up from my nap I Wikied into the Essenes.

And I'd never understood ANY of these differences, even tho a church conflict in which I am a peripheral "aide" so clearly comes right out of these three ways of looking at faith.

A truism I often offer people to think about church life is, "Oh, it's in the Old Testament exactly like that." Because people have been subject to many of the same tunnel visions for so long that IMO ANY ancient text will show things still going on today-- and it can help take the edge off an upset to realize it's the same old same old.

Well, anyway, this thing having these 3 views of the Jewish people will be VERY helpful to me in a number of ways!

~S~