Conference 2006

Colloquium on Political Hebraism, December 26 – 29
Mishkenot Sha’ananim, Jerusalem

Opening Day (Tuesday, December 26)

11:30am-12:30pm
Registration
12:30pm-1:30pm
Introductory Remarks: Daniel Polisar, President, The Shalem Center
Gordon Schochet, Editor, Hebraic Political Studies
Yoram Hazony, Senior Fellow, The Shalem Center
1:30pm-2:30pm
Lunch 
2:30pm-4:30pm
Session 1: The Political Thought of the Hebrew Bible
Moderator: Bernard Levinson, Classical and Near Eastern Studies, University of Minnesota

Allan Silver, Sociology, Columbia University
Topic: “’Give Us a King to Reign Over Us!’: the Politics of I Samuel 8”

Ariel Ilan Roth, Political Science and International Relations, Goucher College
Topic: “Before Thucydides: International Relations Theory and the Hebrew Bible”

Gary Remer, Political Science, Tulane University
Topic: “The Relationship of Biblical Prophet and Classical Orator”

Discussant: Yoram Hazony, Philosophy, Politics and Religion, The Shalem Center

4:30pm-5:30pm
Break 
5:30pm-7:30pm
Keynote
Introduction of Keynote Speaker: Meirav Jones, Philosophy, Politics and Religion, The Shalem Center

Keynote Address: Shmuel Noah Eisenstadt
Topic: “Prophecy and Constitutionalism in the Political Imagery of Axial Age Civilizations with Special Emphasis on the Jewish Case”

Respondent: Steven Grosby, Philosophy and Religion, Clemson University

Discussion

7:30 pm
Depart for Dinner at Lugar Restaurant
6 Rabbi Akiva Street, Jerusalem

Day 2 (Wednesday, December 27)

8:30am-9:00am
Gathering and Refreshments
9:00am-11:00am
Session 2: Legal and Political Theory in Talmudic Times
Moderator: Joshua Weinstein, Philosophy, Politics and Religion, The Shalem Center

Lawrence H. Schiffman, Hebrew and Judaic Studies, New York University
Topic: “The Law of the King in the Dead Sea Scrolls: A Proposal for Constitutional Reform in the Hasmonean Period”

David Flatto, Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, Harvard University
Topic: “’It’s Good to be King’: The Monarch’s Role in the Mishnah’s Political Framework, and his Relationship to the High Priest and Judiciary”

Clifford Orwin, Political Science, University of Toronto
Topic: “Judaism as a Regime: Josephus’ Defense of the Torah in Against Apion”

Shmuel Trigano, Sociology of Religion and Policy, University of Paris-Nanterre
Topic: “The Sovereign’s Two Bodies in the Political Philosophy of Judaism”

Discussion

11:00am-11:30am
Break 
11:30am-1:00pm
Session 3: Borrowing and Appropriation: The Meeting of Judaism and Christianity in Medieval Political Writings
Moderator: Glenn W. Olsen, History, University of Utah

Noah Dauber, Political Science, Harvard University
Topic: “Biblical Wisdom and Aristotelian Prudence in Thirteenth Century Mirrors of Princes”

Jonathan Jacobs, Philosophy, Colgate University
Topic: “Virtue, Revelation, and Natural Law: Revisiting Athens and Jerusalem to Find Our Way Now”

James A. Diamond, Jewish Studies, University of Waterloo
Topic: “Humility as Political Doctrine: Cutting the Biblical King Down to Size in Medieval Jewish Thought”

Discussion

1:00pm-3:00pm
Lunch and Break 
3:00pm-4:30pm
Session 4: Political Philosophy and Responses to Political Philosophy in Jewish Thought
Moderator: Eric Lawee, Humanities and Religious Studies, York University

Julie E. Cooper, Political Science, Syracuse University
Topic: “Maimonides and Spinoza on the Politics of Humility”

Abraham Melamed, Jewish Philosophy, University of Haifa
Topic: “Machiavellism and Anti-Machiavellism in Seventeenth Century Jewish Amsterdam

Nancy K. Levene, Religious Studies, Indiana University
Topic: “Athens and Jerusalem: Myths and Mirrors”

Discussion

Day 3 (Thursday, December 28)

8:30am-9:00am
Gathering and Refreshments
9:00am-11:00am
Session 5: On Jewish Law and Political Order
Moderator: Menachem Lorberbaum, Hebrew Culture Studies, Tel Aviv University

Jonathan Fisher, London School of Economics
Topic: “The Notion of Sovereign Immunity in the Polity of Ancient Israel”

Isaac Lifshitz, Philosophy, Politics and Religion, The Shalem Center
Topic: “Kahal as Spontaneous Order”

Carlin Romano, Philosophy, University of Pennsylvania
Topic: “Chaim Perelman’s Philosophy of Law and Rabbinic Reasoning”

Shmuel Sandler, Political Science, Bar Ilan University
Topic: “Towards a Theory of World Jewish Politics and Jewish Foreign Policy”

Discussion

11:00am-11:30am
Break 
11:30am-1:30pm
Session 6: The Hebrew Model and Hebrew Language in Conceiving and Constructing the Modern World
Moderator: Peter N. Miller, Bard Graduate Center

Daniel Stein Kokin, Judaic Studies and History, Yale University
Topic: “Moses the Conqueror: Machiavelli on God’s Power and the Possibility of Politics”

Guido Bartolucci, Historical Disciplines, University of Bologna
Topic: “The De Politia Iudaica of Corneille Bertram and the Huguenot Political Tradition”

Erin Dolgoy, Michigan State University
Topic: “The Old Testament in Bacon’s New Atlantis: A Consideration of Bensalem’s Joabin”

Arthur Eyffinger, Huygens Institute, The Hague.
Topic: “A Study in Statesmanship: Hugo Grotius’ Sophompaneas in the Joseph-Tradition”

Discussion

1:30pm-3:30pm
Lunch and Break 
3:30pm-6:00pm
Session 7: Judaism at the Center of Seventeenth-Century English Political Debates
Moderator: Noam Flinker, English Literature and Language, University of Haifa

Gordon Freeman
Topic: “John Milton’s Areopagitica and Eldad and Medad”

Jason P. Rosenblatt, English, Georgetown University
Topic: “Milton, Natural Law and Toleration”

Ofir Haivry, Philosophy, Politics and Religion, The Shalem Center
Topic: “’Masoreth is the Defence of the Law’: John Selden and the Hebrews’ ‘Universal Philosophy of Customs’”

George Wright, Political Science, University of Wisconsin
Topic: “Biblical Typology in Hobbes’ Leviathan”

Irina Nemchenko, Odessa National University, Ukraine
Topic: “‘Adamite Theory’ attacked: Algernon Sidney vs. Robert Filmer”

Discussion

Day 4 (Friday, December 29)

8:30am-9:00am
Gathering and Refreshments
9:00am-10:30am
Panel 8: The Bible and Hebrew in the foundations of American political thought.
Moderator: Alan Mittleman, Jewish Philosophy, Jewish Theological Seminary

Nathan Perl-Rosenthal, History, Columbia University
Topic: “American Independence and the Idea of the ‘Hebrew Republic’: Reinterpreting Thomas Paine’s Common Sense”

Andrew Rehfeld, Political Science, Washington University in St. Louis
Topic: “The Hebrew Bible and John Locke’s Second Treatise of Government”

Jonathan Karp, History, State University of New York, Binghamton
Topic: “A Blessing and a Curse: The Mosaic Regime in Black Literature and Thought”

Discussion

10:30am-10:45am
Break 
10:45am-12:45pm
Session 9: Judaism and Politics, Modernity and Politics
Moderator: Fania Oz-Salzberger, School of History, University of Haifa

Susan Meld Shell, Political Science, Boston College
Topic: “Kant’s Jewish Problem”

Michael A. Rosenthal, Philosophy, University of Washington
Topic: “Spinoza in Weimar: The Disenchantment of the Modern World and the Fate of the Hebrew State”

Assaf Malach, Hermeneutic Studies, Bar Ilan University
Topic: “Paradigm or Exception: The Study of Nationalism and the Jewish-Israeli Case”

Rona Yona, History, Tel Aviv University
Topic: “Zionist Terminology and the Jewish Sources: Berl Katznelson and the Creation of the Term הנחלת הלשון (The Endowment of Language)”

Discussion

12:45pm-1:00pm
Closing Remarks:
Arthur Eyffinger, Editor, Hebraic Political Studies 
1:00pm
Lunch and departure