Medieval Political Philosophy - a Sourcebook

For students of political philosophy, the history of religion, and medieval civilization, this book provides a rich storehouse of medieval thought drawn from Latin, Hebrew, and Arabic sources. Twenty-five important works, many never before translated into English, are included in their entirety or in substantial and coherent selections.

"The authors of this work evidence a wholesome effort to overcome the basic obstacles which interpose themselves between modern man and true undesrstanding of the medieval political philosophers. . . This ia welcome text and adjunct to political science and philosophy courses."―Library Journal

"This volume . . . contains translations of twenty-five selections from seventeen different authors who lived between the ninth and fifteenth cernturies and wrote on political philosophy. . . . Although many of the authors are unknown in the West today, most of them extensively influenced the formation of modern Wester political philosophy. Machiavelli, Descartes, Spinoza, Hobbes, and Locke were familiar with many of these authors or with the writings of the schools that arose to defend their teaching. This book is such an excellent introduction to those medieval political philosophers so important to our own understanding of contemporary political thought that we are fortunate that it has been reisssued in a paperback edition."―American Political Science Review