The Rabbinic Movement from Pharisees to Provincial Jurists

Abstract In this article I argue that the rabbinic movement reinvented itself during second century by expanding boundaries of Jewish law to include all spheres private law, and thereby claiming juristic expertise in these matters. A variety sources from Second Temple period indicate at stage included primarily ritual laws, while was not considered unique way life treated scholars Torah until CE . This far-reaching change resonates with other concurrent developments provincial legal culture, emergence local nomikoi (legal experts) profession dissemination knowledge Roman East. The situation served reshape guise jurists, ultimately establish their political social standing.