Rabbis as Nomikoi? Questioning a New Paradigm: A Response to Yair Furstenberg

In recent years, a new generation of Talmud scholars rediscovered Roman law as a valuable comparative tool. In addition to localized comparisons, several broad syntheses have been offered by scholars regarding Roman law and rabbinic halakhic thinking. In his article in this issue, "The Rabbinic Movement from Pharisees to Provincial Jurists"(doi: 10.1163/15700631-bja10070), Yair Furstenberg offers to explain the rise of the field of civil law in later Tannaitic literature as part of the rise of the local jurist in the eastern provinces. I seize the opportunity of Furstenberg's novel thesis to rethink recent trends of comparing Tannaitic halakhah and Roman law and their limitations.