I'm not sure I understand the distinction this article is trying to make. The law was clearly important well before 70 AD; Jesus had frequent arguments with Pha

I'm not sure I understand the distinction this article is trying to make. The law was clearly important well before 70 AD; Jesus had frequent arguments with Pharisees who, from what I understand, were sticklers to a very detailed interpretation of the law/Thora. Although I suppose it's possible they were ahead of the curve and their approach to Judaism didn't become universal until after 70 AD. I'm also not sure why a passage from Nehemia describing Ezra, who both lived in the 5th century BC, has to be from the 2nd or 3rd century BC. And I'm not even sure about the dichotomy of a religion of the book and a cult of sacrifice; many of those sacrifices are described in the book, after all.