Simply, a sort of modernized definition of "pharisee":
One who is at the gate or inside (whether they know it or not). One who feels a moral obligation or compulsion to keep the society (which they are in or seek to gain further access to, or both) select, which is done, most obviously by excluding, in both public and private fashion, those who won't "play by the rules." One who has a vested interest in being considered (by the teaming masses) learned in matters more or less "spiritual" (that is, of the higher order) and is learned to a degree and knows the rules about being learned (how it [this learnedness] is accumulated and expressed) and what exactly that process is (culturally -- speaking in terms of the Hegelian Spirit) to be comprised of, thus allowing them to quickly spin rules and laws -- laws easily memorized for one of a certain intelligence level and devotion to the system -- in order to allow their (burgeoning) authority to protect the gates of the spiritual, which is theirs. If they meet an opponent who challenges the pharisiacal system who cannot be dismissed offhandedly (with a simple show of disdain) and by the normal methods of exclusion, then they resort to more drastic measures, which particularly involve relying upon society's (even a society whihc mistrusts them - which is almost always the case) respect for their devotion to the higher matters (a dicey game, which [if resorted to, makes the pharisee extremely nervous, even if the outcome is not in doubt], which allows them to whip up the society into the frenzy of emergent necessity for its very order and wellbeing.
Nils
|