ABSTRACT
Judaism in the late Second Temple period was characterized by variety. In addition to the identifi ed and well-known sects-Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, etc.—there were many and various permutations of Jewish national and cultural identity, a confused mixture of choices competing for the loyalty of each and every Jew. This was the world into which Jesus was born, into which Rome stepped in her arrogant glory. No one living in the early fi rst century could have imagined how events would conspire to confuse matters still further-and to challenge Jewish identity as it had never been challenged before. And no one living at the same time could have imagined what would be identifi ed as Judaism only a few centuries later.
