Who were the Pharisees?

A lot of people think of them as a bunch of.. sort of pastors, or bible teachers.In reality, they were more like a political party that used scripture to support their political agenda.

If you were a Pharisee, its a bit like saying you belong to a political party (like say, Republicans) with conservative christian views (In NZ we have actual Christian political parties, which is even more closely what a Pharisee is like).

If you were a Pharisee, you may  have been a Rabbi (teacher) (probably not), or a Scribe (lawyer, “theologian”) (probably not).

They were no more a pastor or religious leader than anyone aspiring to change the political world view around them because of their belief system, than anyone else. Typically of politicians, they were probably largely power, money, and prestige hunters..

anyway, food for thought.