Politics and the Limits of Law: Secularizing the Political in Medieval Jewish Thought (Contraversions) - Hardcover

Lorberbaum, Menachem

 
9780804740746: Politics and the Limits of Law: Secularizing the Political in Medieval Jewish Thought (Contraversions)
Hardcover
ISBN 10: 0804740747 ISBN 13: 9780804740746
Verlag: Stanford University Press, 2001

Inhaltsangabe

This book explores the emergence of the fundamental political concepts of medieval Jewish thought, arguing that alongside the well known theocratic elements of the Bible there exists a vital tradition that conceives of politics as a necessary and legitimate domain of worldly activity that preceded religious law in the ordering of society.

Since the Enlightenment, the separation of religion and state has been a central theme in Western political history and thought, a separation that upholds the freedom of conscience of the individual. In medieval political thought, however, the doctrine of the separation of religion and state played a much different role. On the one hand, it served to maintain the integrity of religious law versus the monarch, whether canon law, Islamic law, or Jewish law. On the other hand, it upheld the autonomy of the monarch and the autonomy of human political agency against theocratic claims of divine sovereignty and clerical authority.

Postulating the realm of secular politics leads the author to construct a theory of the precedence of politics over religious law in the organization of social life. He argues that the attempts of medieval philosophers to understand religion and the polity provide new perspectives on the viability of an accommodation between revelation and legislation, the holy and the profane, the divine and the temporal.

The book shows that in spite of the long exile of the Jewish people, there is, unquestionably, a tradition of Jewish political discourse based on the canonical sources of Jewish law. In addition to providing a fresh analysis of Maimonides, it analyzes works of Nahmanides, Solomon ibn Adret, and Nissim Gerondi that are largely unknown to the English-speaking reader. Finally, it suggests that the historical corpus of Jewish political writing remains vital today, with much to contribute to the ongoing debates over church-state relations and theocratic societies.

Die Inhaltsangabe kann sich auf eine andere Ausgabe dieses Titels beziehen.

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Menachem Lorberbaum is Lecturer in Jewish Philosophy at Tel Aviv University and Research Fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute, Jerusalem. He is co-editor of The Jewish Political Tradition: Volume 1, Authority.

Von der hinteren Coverseite

This book explores the emergence of the fundamental political concepts of medieval Jewish thought, arguing that alongside the well known theocratic elements of the Bible there exists a vital tradition that conceives of politics as a necessary and legitimate domain of worldly activity that preceded religious law in the ordering of society.
Since the Enlightenment, the separation of religion and state has been a central theme in Western political history and thought, a separation that upholds the freedom of conscience of the individual. In medieval political thought, however, the doctrine of the separation of religion and state played a much different role. On the one hand, it served to maintain the integrity of religious law versus the monarch, whether canon law, Islamic law, or Jewish law. On the other hand, it upheld the autonomy of the monarch and the autonomy of human political agency against theocratic claims of divine sovereignty and clerical authority.
Postulating the realm of secular politics leads the author to construct a theory of the precedence of politics over religious law in the organization of social life. He argues that the attempts of medieval philosophers to understand religion and the polity provide new perspectives on the viability of an accommodation between revelation and legislation, the holy and the profane, the divine and the temporal.
The book shows that in spite of the long exile of the Jewish people, there is, unquestionably, a tradition of Jewish political discourse based on the canonical sources of Jewish law. In addition to providing a fresh analysis of Maimonides, it analyzes works of Nahmanides, Solomon ibn Adret, and Nissim Gerondi that are largely unknown to the English-speaking reader. Finally, it suggests that the historical corpus of Jewish political writing remains vital today, with much to contribute to the ongoing debates over church-state relations and theocratic societies.

Aus dem Klappentext

This book explores the emergence of the fundamental political concepts of medieval Jewish thought, arguing that alongside the well known theocratic elements of the Bible there exists a vital tradition that conceives of politics as a necessary and legitimate domain of worldly activity that preceded religious law in the ordering of society.
Since the Enlightenment, the separation of religion and state has been a central theme in Western political history and thought, a separation that upholds the freedom of conscience of the individual. In medieval political thought, however, the doctrine of the separation of religion and state played a much different role. On the one hand, it served to maintain the integrity of religious law versus the monarch, whether canon law, Islamic law, or Jewish law. On the other hand, it upheld the autonomy of the monarch and the autonomy of human political agency against theocratic claims of divine sovereignty and clerical authority.
Postulating the realm of secular politics leads the author to construct a theory of the precedence of politics over religious law in the organization of social life. He argues that the attempts of medieval philosophers to understand religion and the polity provide new perspectives on the viability of an accommodation between revelation and legislation, the holy and the profane, the divine and the temporal.
The book shows that in spite of the long exile of the Jewish people, there is, unquestionably, a tradition of Jewish political discourse based on the canonical sources of Jewish law. In addition to providing a fresh analysis of Maimonides, it analyzes works of Nahmanides, Solomon ibn Adret, and Nissim Gerondi that are largely unknown to the English-speaking reader. Finally, it suggests that the historical corpus of Jewish political writing remains vital today, with much to contribute to the ongoing debates over church-state relations and theocratic societies.

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

POLITICS AND THE LIMITS OF LAW

SECULARIZING THE POLITICAL IN MEDIEVAL JEWISH THOUGHTBy MENACHEM LORBERBAUM

Stanford University Press

Copyright © 2001 Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-8047-4074-6

Contents

PREFACE...............................................................xiINTRODUCTION: DIVINE LAW AND SECULAR POLITICS.........................1The Polity............................................................3Biblical and Talmudic Background......................................6Synopsis..............................................................13PART 1: MAIMONIDES1 THE NATURAL FOUNDATIONS OF POLITICS.................................17"Man Is Political by Nature"..........................................18Modern Interpretations................................................24Polity and Society....................................................25Medieval Interpretations..............................................28Naturalizing Divine Law...............................................302 THE INSUFFICIENCY OF LAW............................................35Maimonides on Law.....................................................35From Law to Politics..................................................413 THE CODE ON THE PRIORITY OF POLITICS................................43Monarchy-A King Must Be Appointed and Honored.........................44The King and the Sanhedrin............................................47The King's Right to Command...........................................51The King's Right to Punish............................................55Royal Law.............................................................61Consent...............................................................65The Maimonidean Monarchy-Instrumental or Natural?.....................674 CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS AND MESSIANIC RESOLUTION......................70The Maimonidean Polity................................................70Politics and Religion.................................................72Tension...............................................................75The Messianic Polity..................................................77The Utopian Vision....................................................83The Messianic Age and the Utopian Vision..............................87Conclusion............................................................89PART 2: GERONDI5 THE KAHAL AS A POLITY...............................................93The History of Public Law.............................................95Communal Authority....................................................100Nahmanides............................................................106Solomon ibn Adret (Rashba)............................................112Conclusion............................................................1226 THE AUTONOMY OF POLITICS............................................124Politics..............................................................127The Structure of the Polity...........................................134Divine Law............................................................138Impasse...............................................................143CONCLUSION: SECULARIZING POLITICS.....................................151Turning to Modernity..................................................156NOTES.................................................................163BIBLIOGRAPHY..........................................................193NAME INDEX............................................................209GENERAL INDEX.........................................................213

Chapter One

THE NATURAL FOUNDATIONS OF POLITICS

MAIMONIDES' political theory naturalizes politics. In the Guide, political authority is legitimized by an appeal to nature rather than by an appeal to revelation or divine command. Nevertheless, Maimonides' conception of politics grows out of his understanding of Torah as divine law. He bases his theory of government on the premise that politics is natural and law divine. The coming chapters chart the development of this conception, showing that ultimately Maimonides is unable to resolve the tension between divine and natural.

The consistency of particular doctrines through Maimonides' various presentations in his different works cannot be taken for granted. Indeed, it is much debated in the literature. Philosophy and legal codification, however compatible, inhabit distinct realms of discourse. Obviously, there is no simple correspondence between theoretical contentions about any given subject and judicial rulings to which they may be germane. The distinctions between divine law, natural law, and nomos are not paralleled by those between halakhah, Noahide law, and dina demalkhuta dina (the law of the kingdom is law); the distinction between Davidic kings and Israelite kings cannot be viewed simply as a particularization of the distinction between the rule of wisdom and the rule of law. But while the meanings and application of these concepts differ significantly, these differences do not preclude the possibility of comparison, they merely mandate meticulousness. Maimonides himself, it should be noted, presented philosophical discourse as "the science of the Law in its true sense" (Guide, Introduction, p. ?).

I will, therefore, separate Maimonides' treatment of the questions at hand in the Guide from their treatment in the Code. Ultimately, this methodological stricture will serve to illustrate the fact that the two are fundamentally compatible.

"Man Is Political by Nature"

It has been explained with utmost clarity that man is political by nature and that it is his nature to live in society. He is not like the other animals for which society is not a necessity. -Guide 2:40, p. 381

These lines from the Guide, echoing Aristotle on human political nature, are found at the heart of Maimonides' discussion of prophecy. After explaining that "the call to the Law followed necessarily" only from Moses' prophetic understanding (2:39 p. 378), Maimonides addresses the nature of the Torah as divine law. Yet the Aristotelian terminology may obscure rather than illuminate Maimonides' position. It is characteristic of the Islamic philosophic tradition Maimonides draws upon to downplay the differences between Plato and Aristotle and, in effect, to Platonize Aristotle. This is especially so with regard to politics. Aristotle's Politics was not known to philosophers of the early Middle Ages, although Al-Farabi may have had access to an abridged version. Plato's Republic, Laws, and Statesman were the basic texts in light of which Aristotle's Ethics was read.

The import of the proclamation that "man is political by nature" is not self-evident. Let us consider the passage. Maimonides first states that human beings' political nature "has been explained with utmost clarity." There appears to be no other passage in the Guide where Maimonides claims that an assertion has been explained "with utmost clarity." Throughout the Guide, Maimonides takes the role of explicator. Although the person to whom the book is addressed does not join in the dialogue, the speaker/explicator assumes his presence. The many subtle variations in the manner in which the speaker addresses his reader are integral to the course of the argument. The speaker points out familiar assumptions (for example, 1:26, 1:50, and 2:3) and at times exhorts...

„Über diesen Titel“ kann sich auf eine andere Ausgabe dieses Titels beziehen.

Verlag
Stanford University Press
Erscheinungsdatum
2001
Sprache
Englisch
ISBN 10 
0804740747
ISBN 13 
9780804740746
Einband
Gebundene Ausgabe
Anzahl der Seiten
232
Kontakt zum Hersteller
Nicht verfügbar
Verantwortliche Person
preigu
mail@preigu.de

Lengericher Landstr. 19
Osnabrück
49078
Deutschland