section_path: Role in Jewish sects/Reform Judaism
section_name: Reform Judaism
paragraph_text: Reform Judaism
  
  The rise of Reform Judaism during the 19th century saw more questioning of the authority of the Talmud. Reform Jews saw the Talmud as a product of late antiquity, having relevance merely as a historical document. For example, the "Declaration of Principles" issued by the Association of Friends of Reform Frankfurt in August 1843 states among other things that:
  
  The collection of controversies, dissertations, and prescriptions commonly designated by the name Talmud possesses for us no authority, from either the dogmatic or the practical standpoint.
  
  Some took a critical-historical view of the written Torah as well, while others appeared to adopt a neo- Karaite "back to the Bible" approach, though often with greater emphasis on the prophetic than on the legal books.