The Jewish Political Tradition Volume I: Authority - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0300102011 ISBN 13: 9780300102017

Publisher: Yale University Press, 2003

Synopsis

This book launches a landmark four-volume collaborative work exploring the political thought of the Jewish people from biblical times to the present. Each volume includes a selection of texts―from the Bible and Talmud, midrashic literature, legal responsa, treatises, and pamphlets―annotated for modern readers and accompanied by new commentaries written by eminent philosophers, lawyers, political theorists, and other scholars working in different fields of Jewish studies. These contributors join the arguments of the texts, agreeing or disagreeing, elaborating, refining, qualifying, and sometimes repudiating the political views of the original authors. The series brings the little-known and unexplored Jewish tradition of political thinking and writing into the light, showing where and how it resonates in the state of Israel, the chief diaspora settlements, and, more broadly, modern political experience.

This first volume, Authority, addresses the basic question of who ought to rule the community: What claims to rule have been put forward from the time of the exodus from Egypt to the establishment of the state of Israel? How are such claims disputed and defended? What constitutes legitimate authority? The authors discuss the authority of God, then the claims of kings, priests, prophets, rabbis, lay leaders, gentile rulers (during the years of the exile), and the Israeli state. The volume concludes with several perspectives on the issue of whether a modern state can be both Jewish and democratic. Forthcoming volumes will address the themes of membership, community, and political vision.

Among the contributors to this volume:
Amy Gutmann
Moshe Halbertal
David Hartman
Moshe Idel
Sanford Levinson
Susan Neiman
Hilary Putnam
Joseph Raz
Michael Sandel
Allan Silver
Yael Tamir

About this title

From the Back Cover:

"The Jewish Political Tradition is one of the most ambitious Jewish intellectual efforts of recent years."-David Novak, New Republic; "Walzer and his collaborators have succeeded admirably, opening a new chapter in our understanding of Jewish experience and offering fresh perspectives on the abiding questions of politics everywhere."-Mark Lilla, Wall Street Journal; "A splendid achievement. When Jews call themselves the people of the book, this is the sort of book they have, or at least ought to have, in mind."-Noah J. Efron, Boston Book Review

About the Author:

Michael Walzer is UPS Foundation Professor of Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. Menachem Lorberbaum is senior lecturer in the department of Jewish philosophy at Tel Aviv University. Noam Zohar is senior lecturer in the department of philosophy at Bar Ilan University. Yair Lorberbaum is lecturer in the faculty of law at Bar Ilan University. All four editors are research fellows at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem.

About this edition

• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0300102011
• ISBN 13: 9780300102017
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 640
• Editor: Walzer Michael, Lorberbaum Menachem, Zohar Noam J., Lorberbaum Yair, Loberbaum Yair