Review of Kugler, Resolving disputes in second century BCE Herakleopolis

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: Resolving disputes in second century BCE Herakleopolis: a study in Jewish legal reasoning in Hellenistic Egypt.

Robert A. Kugler, Resolving disputes in second century BCE Herakleopolis: a study in Jewish legal reasoning in Hellenistic Egypt. Supplements to the Journal for the Study of Judaism, 201. Leiden: Brill, 2022. Pp. xii, 274. ISBN 9789004505636

Review by
Patrick Sänger, University of Münster. saengerp@uni-muenster.de

... Kugler has undeniably achieved the goal he set out to accomplish with his study. He has unequivocally demonstrated that the petitions of P.Polit.Iud. suggest an awareness of Jewish legal thinking based on the Torah, that corresponding elements were utilized within the underlying argumentative strategy, that the legal reality reflected in the petitions was characterized by legal pluralism, and that the recourse to Jewish legal principles can be attributed to a certain pragmatism serving the purpose of substantiating and ultimately enforcing the petitioner’s position (p. 255). ...

I noted the publication of the book here.

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