The Jewish Political Tradition, Vol.1: Authority [Hardcover]

Michael Walzer (Editor), Mr. Menachem Lorberbaum (Editor), Mr. Noam J. Zohar (Editor), Yair Loberbaum (Editor), Michael Walzer et al. (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0300078226 | ISBN-13: 978-0300078220 | Publication Date: April 2000 | Edition: annotated edition

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. The 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 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 are: Amy Gutmann, Moshe Halbertal, David Hartman, Moshe Idel, Sanford Levinson, Susuan Neiman, Hilary Putnam, Joseph Raz, Michael Sandel, Allan Silver, Yael Tamir.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Jews were political outsiders from 63 B.C. (when the Romans took control) to 1948 (when the state of Israel was founded). Though they lacked any state or territory of their own, Jews nevertheless created a distinctive political philosophy, one that receives systematic scholarly attention in a landmark four-volume series titled The Jewish Political Tradition. Authority, the first volume in the series, is an anthology of writings for which the central questions are: Who should rule the community? And how? Authority begins by exploring the biblical notion of covenant, then considers topics such as the right of kings to rule, the challenge of both submitting to God's authority and interpreting His words, and the question of whether a Jewish state can be truly democratic. In all, the book contains 30 topical chapters, each reproducing a range of documents (from the Bible to medieval rabbinic commentaries to modern political pamphlets). Their organization mimics the conversational course by which Jewish political tradition has developed. Series editor Michael Walzer (author of the classic On Toleration) contributes a lucid introduction to Authority; he notes that "the Jews did not choose, and never celebrated, the decentered politics of the exile, but, within the limits set by their relative powerlessness, they made it work." Authority sets this brilliant, pragmatic, and vigorous tradition on paper in an accessible format for the first time. The project will be salutary for the study and practice of politics everywhere. --Michael Joseph Gross

From Library Journal

In this first book of a four-volume series originating from a conference on Jewish philosophy, religion, and politics sponsored by the Shalom Harman Institute of Jerusalem, the political arguments of two millennia are made accessible to a new generation of general readers. The struggle between secular and religious authority and the interaction of the individual in society are central themes. The editors, all scholars affiliated with the Shalom Hartman Institute, arrange this anthology of texts with commentaries in chronological order under 30 chapters headings, centering upon key historical events from ancient times unto the modern State of Israel. Primary sources (the Talmud, Mishnah, Midrash, Gemara, etc.) are supplemented by legal responsa, extracanonical, and contemporary sources, including essays, articles, and pamphlets by eminent scholars and professionals working in different fields of Jewish studies. Many of the medieval and modern texts are translated into English for the first time. Biographical data on various authors are included. This highly comprehensive and scholarly work is recommended for academic libraries.DMichael W. Ellis, Ellenville P.L., NY
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 592 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press; annotated edition edition (April 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300078226
• ISBN-13: 978-0300078220
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,267,797 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

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9 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Jewish Political Tradition Volume 1 - Authority, May 30, 2000

By 

Bruce Cohen - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Jewish Political Tradition, Vol.1: Authority (Hardcover)

This book asks a question in its Introduction setting the tone for the rest of the work: "What structure of human authority is required by divine and textual authority?" If that were the only sentence in the book, it would be worth reading.

For any reader either Jewish, Christian or Moslem, this book is valuable because it teases from Scripture and history a sense of how humans choose to build governmental and judicial systems in response to what they perceive as being mandated or implied as mandated by divine writ; and how opposing voices test those choices of direction.

One words repeatedly comes to mind as I seek to convey a sense of this book's contribution to thought: valuable.