The Scepter Shall Not Depart from Judah: Perspectives on the Persistence of the Political in Judaism
The title of political theorist Alan L. Mittleman's captivating new book is drawn from the patriarch Jacob's blessing to his children and grandchildren. The blessing contains the promise that Judah will become a royal house, perhaps forever. Kings, of course, ceased in Israel, but politics did not. Regime replaced regime. National independence was compromised and lost, regained and lost again. Yet the attention to things political was never lost. Old texts were applied to new political realities. Political awareness and thought, constantly transformed and adapted to new historical exigencies, persisted among the Jews. In The Scepter Shall Not Depart from Judah, Mittleman looks at some of the central problems of political philosophy—such as fundamental rights and the common good—from the point of view of rabbinic Judaism. At the same time, he considers conceptual issues in Judaism—such as covenant and tradition—from the perspective of political philosophy. Mittleman's sources range from the ancient rabbis to contemporary political theorists, making this volume an important one for courses and research in both Jewish studies and political theory.
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The Scepter Shall Not Depart from Judah: Perspectives on the Persistence of the Political in Judaism
The title of political theorist Alan L. Mittleman's captivating new book is drawn from the patriarch Jacob's blessing to his children and grandchildren. The blessing contains the promise that Judah will become a royal house, perhaps forever. Kings, of course, ceased in Israel, but politics did not. Regime replaced regime. National independence was compromised and lost, regained and lost again. Yet the attention to things political was never lost. Old texts were applied to new political realities. Political awareness and thought, constantly transformed and adapted to new historical exigencies, persisted among the Jews. In The Scepter Shall Not Depart from Judah, Mittleman looks at some of the central problems of political philosophy—such as fundamental rights and the common good—from the point of view of rabbinic Judaism. At the same time, he considers conceptual issues in Judaism—such as covenant and tradition—from the perspective of political philosophy. Mittleman's sources range from the ancient rabbis to contemporary political theorists, making this volume an important one for courses and research in both Jewish studies and political theory.
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The Scepter Shall Not Depart from Judah: Perspectives on the Persistence of the Political in Judaism

The Scepter Shall Not Depart from Judah: Perspectives on the Persistence of the Political in Judaism

by Alan L. Mittleman
The Scepter Shall Not Depart from Judah: Perspectives on the Persistence of the Political in Judaism

The Scepter Shall Not Depart from Judah: Perspectives on the Persistence of the Political in Judaism

by Alan L. Mittleman

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Overview

The title of political theorist Alan L. Mittleman's captivating new book is drawn from the patriarch Jacob's blessing to his children and grandchildren. The blessing contains the promise that Judah will become a royal house, perhaps forever. Kings, of course, ceased in Israel, but politics did not. Regime replaced regime. National independence was compromised and lost, regained and lost again. Yet the attention to things political was never lost. Old texts were applied to new political realities. Political awareness and thought, constantly transformed and adapted to new historical exigencies, persisted among the Jews. In The Scepter Shall Not Depart from Judah, Mittleman looks at some of the central problems of political philosophy—such as fundamental rights and the common good—from the point of view of rabbinic Judaism. At the same time, he considers conceptual issues in Judaism—such as covenant and tradition—from the perspective of political philosophy. Mittleman's sources range from the ancient rabbis to contemporary political theorists, making this volume an important one for courses and research in both Jewish studies and political theory.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780739100974
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date: 02/09/2000
Series: Religion, Politics, and Society in the New Millennium
Edition description: New Edition
Pages: 200
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.41(d)

About the Author

Alan L. Mittleman is Associate Professor of Religion at Muhlenberg College. He is the author of The Politics of Torah: German-Jewish Orthodoxy and the Founding of Agudat Israel (1996) and Between Kant and Kabbalah: An Introduction to Isaac Breuer's Philosophy of Judaism (1990).

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Introduction
Chapter 2 Paradigm Lost: The Decline of the Jews As a Polity
Chapter 3 The Recovery of Covenant: The Politicization of Jewish Origins
Chapter 4 Covenant and Tradition: The Dynamics of Consent
Chapter 5 The Emergence of the Polity
Chapter 6 Persons and Rights
Chapter 7 The Dilemma of Modern Judaism As a Problem of Political Obligation
Chapter 8 Individuals and the Common Good
Chapter 9 the Constitution of a Jewish State: The Thought of R. Shimon Federbush
Chapter 10 Afterword
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