# Is 'Pharisee' an antisemitic slur? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 2, 2021, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-pharisee-an-antisemitic-slur/953699 "2021-11-02T21:17:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Thing.Fish](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thing.fish/32/9168_2.png) [@Thing.Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing.Fish)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2021, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-pharisee-an-antisemitic-slur/953699/41 "2021-11-15T16:44:33Z")
Oh, there is no shortage of scathing criticism of Temple corruption in the Bible – many of the Prophets went on at great length about it. But they were all calling for reform of the institution, not its abolition. The traditional Jewish point of view is that the Temple was the greatest gift God ever gave us, that it was taken away as punishment for our sins (priestly corruption high on the list), and that it will eventually be returned when we achieve a sufficient degree of repentance. The Christian view, in contrast, is that the Temple is now entirely obsolete and will never be rebuilt. So criticism of the Temple from a Christian point of view risks being offensive, even if the criticisms are accurate. Similarly, if you’re Catholic and someone brings up the topic of the Medici popes, your reaction is going to differ depending on whether that person is a fellow Catholic with an interest in Church history or a Calvinist with a bone to pick. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2021, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-pharisee-an-antisemitic-slur/953699/42 "2021-11-16T04:02:08Z")
> [@Thing.Fish](#): > > {…} The Christian view, in contrast, is that the Temple is now entirely obsolete and will never be rebuilt. {…} It’s my understanding that rebuilding the Temple is a required sign of the Second Coming of Christ according to some Christians. > **[Third Temple | Christian views](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Temple#Christian_views)** > > While there are a number of differing views amongst Christianity with regard to the significance or the requirement of a third temple being built in Jerusalem, according to the writers of the New Testament, the New Covenant (spoken of in Jeremiah 31:31–34) is marked by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the believer (Ezekiel 36:26–27) and that therefore every believer's body and every gathering of believers comprise the temple, or that the temple has been superseded. Paul illustrates this conce... ---
**Author:** ![Thing.Fish](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thing.fish/32/9168_2.png) [@Thing.Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing.Fish)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2021, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-pharisee-an-antisemitic-slur/953699/43 "2021-11-16T04:22:17Z")
Well, it’s never good to generalize about groups of hundreds of millions of people. I feel safe in saying that that is the _mainstream_ Christian position, however. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2021, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-pharisee-an-antisemitic-slur/953699/44 "2021-11-16T11:07:34Z")
I’m pretty sure the mainstream Christian position isn’t that it _will_ never be rebuilt, just that it’s irrelevant to Christians. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2021, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-pharisee-an-antisemitic-slur/953699/45 "2021-11-16T17:50:05Z")
To be honest the political and religious climate, not to mention the fact that the Dome of the Rock is built over it, makes it unlikely that the Temple will be rebuilt on it’s traditional location in our lifetimes- or our children’s. That’s just Realpolitik. ---
**Author:** ![Thing.Fish](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thing.fish/32/9168_2.png) [@Thing.Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing.Fish)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2021, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-pharisee-an-antisemitic-slur/953699/46 "2021-11-16T18:07:15Z")
Conveniently, the normative Jewish position is that we don’t need to and shouldn’t actively work toward rebuilding the Temple; God will miraculously make it appear when the time is right. So (choosing words carefully) the chance of that happening at any particular time isn’t really affected by the political climate, per se. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2021, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-pharisee-an-antisemitic-slur/953699/47 "2021-11-30T20:14:59Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > To be honest the political and religious climate, not to mention the fact that the Dome of the Rock is built over it, makes it unlikely that the Temple will be rebuilt on it’s traditional location in our lifetimes- or our children’s. That’s just Realpolitik. But if it ever _IS_ rebuilt, it will have to be a follow-on to the removal of the Dome of the Rock, and the likely circumstances surrounding such a removal would probably generate an apocalyptic war, such as is supposedly predicted to coincide with said Second Coming. (I gotta say, Jesus certainly does seem to have an exceptionally long refractory period…) ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2022, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-pharisee-an-antisemitic-slur/953699/48 "2022-01-12T20:20:57Z")
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