life of their nation to survive the disaster of AD 70, and the Rabbinic literature, which was written down after that date, presents a consistently Pharisaic point of view. Sadducees are nevertheless sometimes referred to; see 159 in the chapter on Rabbinic Literature and Rabbinic Judaism. The Essenes, though not mentioned in the New Testament, were certainly a not unimportant sect. In addition to the paragraphs from Josephus and Philo quoted below see the chapter on Qumran. Whether the Qumran sect