The Essence of Western-Christian Influence in Talmudic Legal Tradition

Abstract

This paper examines the interdisciplinary approach of religion and law in the contexts of legal traditions of the world wherein the Talmudic legal tradition has been studied with the core aspects of Western-Christian influence over it. It starts with a brief introduction of the origins of Christian influences as propounded within western approaches going back to the era of the Roman Period being Christianised. We have attempted to study and interrogate the theoretical assertions of ‘Traditions’ provided by Patrick H. Glenn in the context of Western-Christian dominance originating within revolutionary historical phases. It was also an endeavour of this study to better understand the exchange of traditions within western dominance by judging one’s juxtaposition of internal rationality within their orbit. The process continues with the analysis of the ‘identity persuasion’ and the ‘proselytizing character’ of traditions. The various aspects of the Talmudic legal tradition have been dealt with herein covering a Rights based approach with identity features and Western-Christian influence in its origins having a basic structure with the ‘Talmud’ at its cores. The basic nature of ‘Talmud’ in both civil and criminal laws has been dealt with and we have sought to understand its relevance.

Keywords

• tradition
• western
• christian
• talmud
• law