Do You Know These People?

Do you know these people?  Their beliefs included:
1. Strict monotheism.
2.  "That which is hateful to you, do not do to your friend."
3. People have free will, but God has foreknowledge of human destiny.
4. Bodily resurrection of the dead.
5. Religion should affect and inform daily life.
6. All believers can function as priests, not just a special class.
7. Religious leaders are not determined by birth, but by their scholarly achievement and their personal piety.
8. Brotherhood of mankind.
9. A commitment to social justice.
10. Ultimately, all of mankind can be redeemed.
11. Worship may be at local congregations rather than restricted to a centralized Temple.
12. Strict adherence to the teachings of scripture.
13. The scriptures should be studied and debated.

The beliefs sound familiar because they are all part of the Christian philosophy, but they come from the Jewish sect known as the Pharisees.  The Hebrew word from which the name derives is "paras," פרש
 meaning "set apart."  The Pharisees were similar to a political party and a populist social movement.  Their popularity with the common people explains how they survived during the upheavals of history even as the other sects (Sadducees, Essenes, and Sicari/Zealots) disappeared.

The Pharisees were the precursors of modern Rabbinic Judaism.
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It is interesting that "Pharisee" means "set apart," because that is also the meaning of the biblical use of the word "saint."   άγιος, usually transliterated in English as "hagios," means "set apart."