This paper will describe the characteristics of the three main Jewish sects that existed at the start of the Christian Era. According to Grant, there were actually many different Jewish movements during that time. Although all of the various Jews "professed complete devotion to the Torah," there were nonetheless "wide divergences of opinion" among the different groups (216). In the first century C.E., the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus claimed that three of these groups were …showed first 75 words of 1989 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1989 total…The History of Ancient Israel. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1984. Kuntz, J. Kenneth. The People of Ancient Israel. New York: Harper and Row, 1974. Porton, Gary G. "Sadducees." The Anchor Bible Dictionary. Vol. 5. David Noel Freedman, ed. New York: Doubleday, 1992, 892-895. Saldarini, Anthony J. "Pharisees." The Anchor Bible Dictionary. Vol. 5. David Noel Freedman, ed. New York: Doubleday, 1992, 289-303. Stambaugh, John E., and David L. Balch. The New Testament and Its Social Environment. Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1986.