The Jewish Political Tradition: Authority v. 1 Book

Jews were political outsiders from 63 BCE (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 which receives systematic scholarly attention in a landmark four-volume series entitled The Jewish Political Tradition. Authority, the first volume in the series, is an anthology of writings whose 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) whose 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 decentred 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 ENDRead More