The old paths, or the Talmud tested by Scripture is a nineteenth-century work of Christian Hebraic polemic, examining rabbinic tradition in light of the Hebrew Bible. McCaul juxtaposes Talmudic and later rabbinical passages with scriptural texts, arguing that post-biblical Judaism departed from what he regarded as the "old paths" of patriarchs and prophets. Its style is learned, disputational, and exegetical, reflecting the missionary-apologetic literature of Victorian Protestantism and the era's intense engagement with Jewish sources. Alexander McCaul (1799–1863), an Irish Anglican clergyman, Hebrew scholar, and missionary associated with the London Society for Promoting Christianity amongst the Jews, was unusually well trained in rabbinic literature for an English churchman of his time. His years of study, controversy, and pastoral work among Jewish communities shaped this book's purpose: to persuade Jewish readers through their own textual traditions while equipping Christian readers with arguments grounded in Scripture and philology. Modern readers should approach the book both critically and historically. It is valuable for students of Jewish-Christian relations, Victorian theology, biblical interpretation, and missionary scholarship, though its polemical assumptions require careful contextualization. Those interested in how Christians read the Talmud in the nineteenth century will find it a revealing and important document.

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