The Pharisees and the Sadducees: An Examination of Internal Jewish History

by Julius Wellhausen, Mark E. Biddle (Translator)

Available for the first time in English! The influence of Julius Wellhausen (1844—1918) as Orientalist and biblical historian and critic is legendary. Wellhausen's sweeping knowledge of Eastern languages enabled his exhaustive studies of the history of Israel and of biblical literature. He is famed for his analysis of Old Testament texts, especially for his perceptive synthesis of the work of earlier critics and his development of the Documentary Hypothesis with which his name is synonymous. In Pharisees and Sadducees Wellhausen turned his attention to Jews at the turn of the era. In this little volume--which he termed an "essay"--Wellhausen provides a firm foundation for understanding Judaism's influential Pharisees and Sadducees and a keen analysis of their importance in the context of the beginnings of Christianity. This little book is a masterpeice of interpretation and representation, offering insight into inner Jewish history from the first century BCE to the end of the first century CE. Wellhausen's "essay" should be classed among the great works of theological investigation. Even today it retains its significance as a milestone in biblical studies. Now, as number 4 in the Mercer Library of Biblical Studies, this landmark in biblical studies is available to scholars for the first time in English. Mercer Library of Biblical Studies 1. Hermann Gunkel, Genesis (1997) 2. Hermann Gunkel, Psalms (1998) 3. Peter Stuhlmacher, Understanding the New Testament (2001) 4. Julius Wellhausen, The Pharisees and the Sadducees (2001)

115 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 2001

About the author

a German biblical scholar and orientalist, noted particularly for his contribution to scholarly understanding of the origin of the Pentateuch/Torah (the first five books of the Bible). He is credited with being one of the originators of the documentary hypothesis.

Born at Hamelin in the Kingdom of Hanover, the son of a Protestant pastor, he studied theology at the University of Göttingen under Georg Heinrich August Ewald and became Privatdozent for Old Testament history there in 1870. In 1872 he was appointed professor ordinarius of theology at the University of Greifswald. He resigned from the faculty in 1882 for reasons of conscience, stating in his letter of resignation:

"I became a theologian because the scientific treatment of the Bible interested me; only gradually did I come to understand that a professor of theology also has the practical task of preparing the students for service in the Protestant Church, and that I am not adequate to this practical task, but that instead despite all caution on my own part I make my hearers unfit for their office. Since then my theological professorship has been weighing heavily on my conscience."

He became professor extraordinarius of oriental languages in the faculty of philology at Halle, was elected professor ordinarius at Marburg in 1885, and was transferred to Göttingen in 1892 where he stayed until his death.
He is best known for his Prolegomena zur Geschichte Israels (Prolegomena to the History of Israel), a detailed synthesis of existing views on the origins of the first six books of the Old Testament: Wellhausen's contribution was to place the development of these books into a historical and social context. The resulting argument, called the documentary hypothesis, remained the dominant model among biblical scholars until later in the 20th century.