Exodus And Revolution (Paperback)

~ (Author) "THE strength of Exodus history lies in its end, the divine promise..." (more)
Key Phrases: political messianism, idol worshippers, Book of Exodus, God Himself, House of Commons (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Too much scholarship went into this short treatise to call it a meditation, but that's what it is anyway. The author of Just and Unjust Wars, Spheres of Justice, and numerous political essays reflects on the political meaning of the Exodus story, as well as on the use to which it has been put since the Puritan Revolution of the 17th-century. Walzer (professor of social science at the Institute for Advanced Study) concludes that there are two basic interpretations of the story of the Israelites. One, which he calls Exodus politics, is grounded in a specific set of circumstances of oppression and corruption (i.e., Egypt, where the bondage of the Israelites was coupled with a revulsion against and longing for the luxury of their oppressors). Exodus politics is about the journey from Egypt to Canaan, a journey in which Moses plays the role of guide and teacher, forming the Israelites into a new people fit for the Promised Land. The Promised Land is itself about the transformation of Canaan into Israel - that is, the disappointment of reaching the goal only to discover that the journey is not over. This is a kind of social democratic politics, says Walzer, whose mode is education, realism, and moderation, and it is the interpretation and the politics that defines his position. The other dominant strain he calls messianic politics, and here the story is universalized: rather than Egypt, the deliverance is seen as being from oppression tout court, and the goal of the Promised Land takes on an immediacy and joy in the Final Days. This latter is the politics of some radical groups of the left (in Leninism, Moses and the Levites take on the guise of a vanguard party, an interpretation rendered by Lincoln Steffens, among others), as well as of the messianic right in Israel today. Walzer's method is to proceed through the stages of the story, offering alternative interpretations and political glosses as he goes. The trip is well worth taking, even more for the ease with which he handles the biblical interpretation, and the richness the story acquires, than for the relevance of the story to political theory. All in all: satisfying and exciting at once. (Kirkus Reviews) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description

The noted political philosopher offers a moving meditation on the political meanings of the biblical story of Exodus -- from oppression to deliverance and the promised land.

"A rewarding book -- elegantly written, subtly argued, full of stimulating suggestions". -- John Gross, New York Times

"An important book. . . . Walzer shows the real power of the Exodus story as a political document an convincingly demonstrate how it has shaped later thinking about revolutionary alternatives". -- Robert Alter, Professor of Hebrew and Comparative Literature, University of California, Berkeley

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books (October 8, 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0465021638
• ISBN-13: 978-0465021635
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #444,495 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Covenant Theology = Social Contract Theory?, November 19, 2006

By	Shaun King.com - See all my reviews

Walzer is a Princeton Professor who writes in this book that Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and Rousseau have their precursors in the Torah's Exodus narrative. Walzer is not interested in the implications of Biblical Higher Criticism, nor is he interested in theology per se. Rather, he looks at how the Exodus narrative out of Egypt has been used for social arguments. He then goes on to find those aspects within the narrative and elaborate. He writes, "I don't mean to disparage the sacred, only to explore the secular: my subject is not what God has done but what men and women have done, first with the biblical text itself and then in the world, with the text in their hands."
Walzer does a good job writing how covenant theology developed in the Torah: from Noah, to Abraham, to Moses and the Israelites. He says that the post-Sinai covenant is in "good Rousseauian fashion, out of the wills of independents."
He says that "revolution" is the narrative of "oppression, liberation, social contract, political struggle, new society (danger of restoration)." Thus the process of revolution is adeptly reveled in narrative. This is why the Exodus narrative has been a milestone for Western culture's progress.
Walzer concludes with an adept discussion on Zionism, where he finds that two broad arguments: "Exodus Zionism" and "messianic Zionism" (the former, politically left, the latter, politically right) both appeal to canonical text. According to Walzer, these two competing views and how they interpret the Torah are responsible, in large part, for the current tensions in Palestine.
There is too much here to review (e.g. the provocative critique in the Exodus narrative that Walzer sees as an implicit critique of Hegel), this book is recommended for those interested in the intersections between theology, political theory, philosophy, and biblical studies.