- published: 09 Mar 2012
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The Sadducees (Hebrew: צְדוּקִים Ṣĕdûqîm) were a sect or group of Jews that were active in Ancient Israel during the Second Temple period, starting from the second century BC through the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD. The sect was identified by Josephus with the upper social and economic echelon of Judean society. As a whole, the sect fulfilled various political, social, and religious roles, including maintaining the Temple. The Sadducees are often compared to other contemporaneous sects, including the Pharisees and the Essenes. Their sect is believed to have become extinct sometime after the destruction of Herod's Temple in Jerusalem in 70 AD, but it has been speculated that the later Karaites may have had some roots or connections with old Sadducee views.
According to Abraham Geiger, the Sadducee sect of Judaism drew their name from Tzadok, the first Kohen Gadol to serve in The First Temple with the leaders of the sect proposed as the Kohanim (priestly) sons of Tzadok.
However, based on Chazalic sources, some researchers have argued that the Sadducee group originated in tandem with the Boethusian group during the Second Temple period, with their founders, Tzadok and Boethus, both being individual students of Antigonus of Sokho, who preceded the Zugot era, with no direct connection between the founder of the Tzadoki sect and Tzadok the Kohen Gadol, other than the same name.
Cotton Mather, FRS (February 12, 1663 – February 13, 1728; A.B. 1678, Harvard College; A.M. 1681, honorary doctorate 1710, University of Glasgow) was a socially and politically influential New England Puritan minister, prolific author and pamphleteer; he is often remembered for his role in the Salem witch trials. He was the son of Increase Mather, and grandson of both John Cotton and Richard Mather, all also prominent Puritan ministers.
Mather was named after his maternal grandfather, John Cotton. He attended Boston Latin School, where his name was posthumously added to its Hall of Fame, and graduated from Harvard in 1678 at age 15. After completing his post-graduate work, he joined his father as assistant pastor of Boston's original North Church. In 1685 Mather assumed full responsibilities as pastor at the Church.
Cotton Mather wrote more than 450 books and pamphlets, and his ubiquitous literary works made him one of the most influential religious leaders in America. Mather set the moral tone in the colonies, and sounded the call for second- and third-generation Puritans, whose parents had left England for the New England colonies of North America, to return to the theological roots of Puritanism.