Heb., perushim, lit. “separatists.” One of the four principal Jewish sects in the first century c.e., as described by Josephus. Many scholars identify them with the later sages and rabbis who taught the Oral and Written Law; others see them as a complex of pietistic and zealous separatists who were distinct from the protorabbis. According to Josephus, the Pharisees believed in the immortality of souls and resurrection of the dead, in a balance between predestination and free will, in angels as active divine agents, and in authoritative Oral Law. The Pharisees were associated with those whose adherence to the Torah brought them into conflict both with Hellenistic gentile culture and with their fellow Jews who compromised or collaborated with that culture. They practiced a commitment to the Torah that strictly separated Jews from gentiles in such things as dietary laws, circumcision, fasting, and prayer. They accepted the oral expansion of the written Torah and accepted belief in things that were not spelled out in the written Torah, such as the doctrine of resurrection. In early Christian materials, Pharisees are often depicted as the leading opponents of Jesus and his followers and are often linked with “scribes” but distinguished from the Sadducees. See also the description of rival Jewish groups under Rabbis of antiquity.