The Hebrew Republic : Jewish Sources and the Transformation of European Political Thought / Eric Nelson.
Nelson, Eric, author.
2011
JC67 .N45 2010eb
Available Online

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Title The Hebrew Republic : Jewish Sources and the Transformation of European Political Thought / Eric Nelson.
Author Nelson, Eric, author.
ISBN 9780674056749
DOI https://doi.org/10.4159/9780674056749
Published Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press, [2011]
Copyright ©2010
Language English
Language Note In English.
Description 1 online resource (240 p.)
Item Number 10.4159/9780674056749 doi
Call Number JC67 .N45 2010eb
Dewey Decimal Classification 320.01/1
Summary According to a commonplace narrative, the rise of modern political thought in the West resulted from secularization-the exclusion of religious arguments from political discourse. But in this pathbreaking work Eric Nelson argues that this familiar story is wrong. Instead, he contends, political thought in early-modern Europe became less, not more, secular with time, and it was the Christian encounter with Hebrew sources that provoked this radical transformation. During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Christian scholars began to regard the Hebrew Bible as a political constitution designed by God for the children of Israel. Newly available rabbinic materials became authoritative guides to the institutions and practices of the perfect republic. This thinking resulted in a sweeping reorientation of political commitments. In the book's central chapters Nelson identifies three transformative claims introduced into European political theory by the Hebrew revival: the argument that republics are the only legitimate regimes; the idea that the state should coercively maintain an egalitarian distribution of property; and the belief that a godly republic would tolerate religious diversity. One major consequence of Nelson's work is that the revolutionary politics of John Milton, James Harrington, and Thomas Hobbes appear in a brand-new light. Nelson demonstrates that central features of modern political thought emerged from an attempt to emulate a constitution designed by God. This paradox, a reminder that while we may live in a secular age, we owe our politics to an age of religious fervor, in turn illuminates fault lines in contemporary political discourse.
Access Note Access limited to authorized users.
System Details Note Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
Digital File Characteristics text file PDF
Source of Description Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 30. Aug 2021)
In HUP eBook-Package Backlist 2000-2013 (Canada)
Harvard University Press eBook Package Backlist 2000-2013
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Frontmatter
Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1. "Talmudical Commonwealthsmen" and the Rise of Republican Exclusivism
Chapter 2. "For the Land Is Mine": The Hebrew Commonwealth and the Rise of Redistribution
Chapter 3. Hebrew Theocracy and the Rise of Toleration
Epilogue
Notes
Acknowledgments
Bibliography
Index

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