... could be considered the right wing conservatives, the aristocratic and wealthy, made up of priests and merchants, who followed the letter of the law in its most literal interpretation, leaving no room for the current societal application of the law as did the Pharisees. There are three main sources which account for the majority of information we have about the two groups, those sources being from Josephus, a secular historian writing about 70C.E. to 100C.E. commissioned by the Romans, his purpose being to convince the Romans that the Pharisees should have rule over the Jews. The second of the sources are the rabbinic writings, which for the most part succeed Josephus' writing, and speak more of the internal affairs of Judaism. The third and final source is most obviously the New Testament from the Bible, particularly in the Gospels and Acts of the Apostles where the Pharisees and Sadducees ...

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