Most scholars of the ancient world assume that Roman law did not fundamentally affect ancient religions. In 1905, Theodor Mommsen argued that in antiquity the only civil requirement religions had to meet was loyalty toward the rulers. In case of default the believers were forced to comply. Likewise, church historians tend to ignore any impact Roman law may have had on ancient Christianity. The jurist Harold J. Berman (1983) corroborates this view. In ancient Roman society law remained secular, he argues. Though the modern Western legal tradition derived crucial elements from it—a sharp distinction between legal and other social institutions, for example, religion, politics, and morality; an administration of law by a class of specialists; and a legal training of these professionals and the existence of a legal science—a closer relation between law and...