pharisaism

noun

1. (countable, uncountable)The doctrines and practices, or the character and spirit, of the Pharisees.

   “Since Paul lived and worked in the greater Syrian area as a Pharisee, it is somewhat probable that Pharisaism had some influence there and that some Pharisees lived outside Jerusalem and Judea. […] Paul never says where he made contact with Pharisaism, in Tarsus, Syria, or Jerusalem. […] The evidence concerning Pharisaism is so slim that we do not know how Paul came to know about Pharisaism, why he was attracted to it, and what being a Pharisee entailed.”

   “Serious and substantial doubts about Paul's former life as a Pharisee, or even any contact with pharisaism on his part, have been raised.”

2. (countable, uncountable)Rigid observance of external forms of religion without genuine piety; hypocrisy in religion; a censorious, self-righteous spirit in matters of morals or manners.

   “[T]he Phariſee faſted twice every weeke, and that never cenſured in him as a peice of Phariſaiſme, or hypocriſie, or fault of any kind; but as commendable, if he had not boaſted of it.”

   “But denunciations do not go far, and the only living and effective protest would be a society itself delivered from all pharisaisms and idolatries.”

   “The codes of some modern pharisaism comprise mostly some virtues and moral rules selected from the codes of the Christian pharisaisms which they oppose […]”

3. (alt-of, uncountable)Alternative letter-case form of pharisaism.