Hope in a Democratic Age (0) [Hardcover]

Alan Mittleman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 31, 2009 | ISBN-10: 0199297150 | ISBN-13: 978-0199297153 | Edition: 1

How and why should hope play a key role in a twenty-first century democratic politics?

Alan Mittleman offers a philosophical exploration of the theme, contending that a modern construction of hope as an emotion is deficient. He revives the medieval understanding of hope as a virtue, reconstructing this in a contemporary philosophical idiom. In this framework, hope is less a spontaneous reaction than it is a choice against despair; a decision to live with confidence and expectation, based on a rational assessment of possibility and a faith in the underlying goodness of life.

In cultures shaped by biblical teaching, hope is thought praiseworthy. Mittleman explores the religious origins of the concept of hope in the Hebrew Scriptures, New Testament, rabbinic literature and Augustine. He traces the roots of both the praise of hope, in Jewish and Christian thought, and the criticism of hope in Greco-Roman thought and in the tradition of philosophical pessimism. Arguing on behalf of a straightened, sober form of hope, he relates hope-as-a-virtue to the tasks of democratic citizenship. Without diminishing the wisdom found in tragedy, a strong argument emerges in favour of hope as a way of taking responsibility for the world. Drawing on insights from scriptural and classical texts, philosophers, and theologians - ancient and modern, Mittleman builds a compelling case for placing hope at the centre of democratic political systems.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Mittleman provides an intricate account of the multifaceted dimensions of hope. ...Summing up: Recommended." --Choice

About the Author

Alan Mittleman is the author of three previous books in Jewish thought and political theory, as well as the editor of four volumes on religion and politics.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; 1 edition (August 31, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0199297150
• ISBN-13: 978-0199297153
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,604,495 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Alan Mittleman is director of the the Tikvah Institute for Jewish Thought, as well as professor of Jewish Philosophy at The Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City. As director of the Tikvah Institute, he develops programs and courses that promote constructive Jewish philosophy.

Dr. Mittleman is the author of five books: Between Kant and Kabbalah (SUNY Press, 1990), The Politics of Torah (SUNY Press, 1996), The Scepter Shall Not Depart From Judah (Lexington Books, 2000) Hope in a Democratic Age (Oxford University Press, 2009) and a Short History of Jewish Ethics (Wiley-Blackwell). He is also the editor of Uneasy Allies: Evangelical and Jewish Relations (Lexington Books, 2007), Jewish Polity and American Civil Society (Rowman & Littlefield, 2002), Jews and the American Public Square (Rowman & Littlefield, 2002), and Religion as a Public Good (Rowman & Littlefield, 2003). His many articles, essays, and reviews have appeared in such journals as Harvard Theological Review, Modern Judaism, the Jewish Political Studies Review, the Journal of Religion, and First Things. He is a contributor to The Cambridge Companion to American Judaism. Dr. Mittleman's current project is a book on human nature in Jewish thought.

From 2000 to 2004, Dr. Mittleman served as director of the major research project "Jews and the American Public Square," which was initiated by the Pew Charitable Trusts. Under his direction, the project produced two national surveys of Jewish attitudes on public affairs, four volumes comprising forty scholarly essays, and fifteen conferences around the United States. He is the recipient of an Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Research Fellowship and served as guest research professor at the University of Cologne (1994 and 1996). He has lectured widely in Germany in the course of more than fifty trips to that country. Dr. Mittleman also received a Harry Starr Fellowship in Modern Jewish History from Harvard University's Center for Jewish Studies (1997).

Dr. Mittleman has been an active participant in interfaith dialogue throughout his career and has been interviewed by Time, Newsweek, the New York Times, and USA Today, among other periodicals, and has appeared on Fox News. He was also part of a leadership delegation that met with Pope John Paul II and has lectured at the Gregorian University in Rome. During the bicentennial of the US Constitution, Dr. Mittleman spoke on the meaning of religious liberty for American Jews in the chambers of the US Senate. He served on the Advisory Board of the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. In 2007, he was visiting professor of Religion at Princeton University.

Dr. Mittleman is an enthusiastic fly fisherman. He lives near a trout stream where he tries to fish 52 weeks of the year.