Sadduceses win

[tom]

What would modern day Judeism be like if based on the Sadduceses instead of the Pharases?

 

[kholieken]

Samaritan ?? Few hundred people living among palestinian, with local holy places, and unconnected to western success.

 

[Mildtryth]

What would modern day Judeism be like if based on the Sadduceses instead of the Pharases?

The problem with that is that the Sadducees were too deeply connected with the continued existence of the Temple and its central role to Jewish religious life - once it was destroyed, they went down with it. However, it wouldn't be impossible for their remnants to reinvent themselves into something that could survive without the Temple, but if that did happen they'd probably become something similar to Karaite Judaism, which much like them, also considers the written Torah as the only source of religious authority.

 

[Andristan]

Well, for one, their bible would be a lot smaller, seeing as they only considered the Pentatuch/ Torah Scripture

 

[Marc Anthony]

I agree with Myldrith. Also, Judaism would maybe be more class stratified and put more emphasis on heredetry

 

[Well]

The problem with that is that the Sadducees were too deeply connected with the continued existence of the Temple and its central role to Jewish religious life - once it was destroyed, they went down with it. However, it wouldn't be impossible for their remnants to reinvent themselves into something that could survive without the Temple, but if that did happen they'd probably become something similar to Karaite Judaism, which much like them, also considers the written Torah as the only source of religious authority.

I guess avoiding the First Jewish-Roman War would be a good start to achieve this. An interesting question is where this leaves the Christians; do they develop more as a minority sect of Judaism alongside the Pharisees?

 

[Andristan]

Probably not, the christians already had a lot of gentile converts before the jewish war and though it wasn't till the bar kochba revolt that there was a definite split, it was almost guaranteed to happen, with the cessation of the ceremonial/ritual laws binding christians rubbing any jew the wrong way.

 

[PrinceofApathy]

The problem with that is that the Sadducees were too deeply connected with the continued existence of the Temple and its central role to Jewish religious life - once it was destroyed, they went down with it. However, it wouldn't be impossible for their remnants to reinvent themselves into something that could survive without the Temple, but if that did happen they'd probably become something similar to Karaite Judaism, which much like them, also considers the written Torah as the only source of religious authority.

IOTL Jews would probably be much smaller than we are now, probably something like the Samaritans or the Mandeans.