Hebraic Political Studies was an international, peer-reviewed quarterly journal that ran from 2005-2009. The articles explored the political concepts of the Hebrew Bible and rabbinic literature, the significance of reflections on the Hebrew Bible and Judaic sources in the history of ideas, and the role of these sources in the history of the West. Hebraic Political Studies evaluated the place of the Jewish textual tradition, alongside the traditions of Greece and Rome, in political history and the history of political thought.
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Does the Bible Have a Political Teaching?
The Bible has been marshaled in the service of many political doctrines. But does it have a political teaching that is its own? This paper argues that the central historical narrative of the Hebrew Bible (beginning in Genesis and ending with the book of Kings) was composed with an eye to advancing a consistent political theory. The biblical narrative issues biting criticism of both the imperial state familiar to the ancient Near East; and of its opposite, political anarchy. In place of these, the Bible advocates a new and intermediate form of political association: the unification of all Israel under a limited state, to be ruled by an Israelite “whose heart is not lifted above his brothers.”
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