Conference 2008

Colloquium on Political Hebraism, September 7–9, 2008
Princeton University

Day 1 (Sunday, September 7, 2008)
8:30 am	Registration (Nassau Inn)
9:30 am	Gathering and Refreshments (Frist)
10:00 am	Welcoming Greetings Peter Schäfer, Director, Program in Judaic Studies at Princeton Yoram Hazony, Provost and Senior Fellow, The Shalem CenterOpening Remarks Leora Batnitzky, Princeton University Meirav Jones, The Shalem Center Gordon Schochet, Rutgers University
10:20 am	Book Launch Political Hebraism: Judaic Sources in Early Modern Political Thought
10:30 am	Panel I: Biblical Political Thought and its Jewish Exegesis I: Who Holds Power? Chairperson: David Novak, University of TorontoStewart Moore, Yale University Topic: Divine Rights: The Distribution of Power in DeuteronomyDavid Goodblatt, University of California, San Diego Topic: Varieties of Jewish Monarchism Frederek Musall, University for Jewish Studies Heidelberg and Technical University Berlin Topic: The “Prophet-Ruler” vs. the King: On the Critique of Kingly Authority in Medieval Jewish Thought
12:00 pm	Lunch and Break (Nassau Inn)
2:00 pm	Panel II: Biblical Political Thought and its Jewish Exegesis II: Individual and Collective Chairperson: Mordecai Roshwald, University of Minnesota, Emeritus Discussant: Aaron L. Katchen, Harvard University and Brandeis University, EmeritusJoshua Berman, Bar Ilan University Topic: The Sin of Achan (Joshua 7) and Theory of Collective ResponsibilityMira Morgenstern, City College of New York Topic: Refracting the Biblical Text: Rousseau, the Bible, and Nation Formation Joshua Weinstein, The Shalem Center Topic: What Is Yishuv Medina? Shmuel Trigano, University of Paris, Nanterre Topic: The Five Cities of Israel: A Phenomenology of the Assembly of Israel
4:00 pm	Book Launch Created Equal: How the Bible Broke with Ancient Political Thought
4:10 pm	Coffee Break (Frist)
4:30 pm	Panel III: Biblical Political Thought and its Jewish Exegesis III: The Evolution of Political Forms Chairperson: Joseph Isaac Lifshitz, The Shalem Center Discussant: Gary Remer, Tulane UniversitySimeon Chavel, Princeton University Topic: Political Thought and Religious Text in Ancient Israel and Judah in the Eighth and Seventh Centuries BCEJacob L. Wright, Emory University Topic: Admitting Defeat: War, Memory and the Nation in the Hebrew Bible James A. Diamond, University of Waterloo Topic: Nahmanides on the Polis: Reading Exegesis and Kabbalah as Political Theory
6:15 pm	Opening Dinner (Nassau Inn) Keynote Address: Michael Walzer Topic: Where Were The Elders? Introductory Remarks and Chairperson: Gordon Schochet

Day 2 (Monday, September 8, 2008)
8:00 am	Gathering and Refreshments (Frist)
8:30 am	Panel IV: Jerusalem and Athens – Roundtable Chairperson: Gordon Schochet, Rutgers University Discussant: Leora Batnitzky, Princeton UniversityYoram Hazony, The Shalem Center Topic: Jerusalem and Athens RevisitedSteven Grosby, Clemson University Topic: Jerusalem and Athens, In Defense of Jerusalem Jonathan Jacobs, Colgate University Topic: Reasons, Commandments and the Common Project
10:30 am	Coffee Break (Frist)
11:00 am	Panel V: From Maimonides to Spinoza Chairperson: Seymour Feldman, Rutgers University, Emeritus Discussant: Daniel J. Lasker, Ben-Gurion UniversityGerald J. Blidstein, Ben-Gurion University Topic: Zibbur as Partnership and Corporation in MaimonidesAbraham Melamed, University of Haifa Topic: The Motif of the Isolated Island in the History of Jewish Political Thought: The Case of Maimonides (Guide 2:17) Daniel H. Frank, Purdue University Topic: The Politics of Fear: Idolatry and Superstition in Maimonides and Spinoza Ronald Beiner, University of Toronto Topic: Between Civil Religion and Liberalism: A Commentary on the Theological-Political Treatise, Chapters 16-20
1:00 pm	Lunch and Break (Nassau Inn)
3:00 pm	Panel VI: Hebraic Ideas of Social Justice in Early Modern Europe Chairperson: Arthur Eyffinger, The HagueEric Nelson, Harvard University Topic: “For the Land is Mine”: The Hebrew Commonwealth and the Rise of RedistributionFania Oz-Salzberger, Monash University and University of Haifa Topic: Social Justice and the Right of the People: The Seventeenth Century Reads the Hebrew Bible
4:00 pm	Coffee Break (Frist)
4:30 pm	Panel VII: Hebraism in the Development of Modern Law and Constitutionalism Chairperson: Jason Rosenblatt, Georgetown UniversityOfir Haivry, The Shalem Center Topic: “Be Instructed You Who Judge The Earth”: The Biblical Foundation of John Fortescue’s Theory of English Law and PoliticsNaomi Weiss, Bar Ilan University Topic: Hooker’s Hebraic Hermeneutic Oksana A. Dovgopolova, Odessa National University Topic: The Biblical Law’s Theme as a Ground of Monarchomachian Theory in Early Anglican Political Conscience Asher Maoz, Tel Aviv University Topic: The Imprint of Jewish Law on Contemporary Legal Systems
8:30 pm	Gathering and Refreshments (Nassau Inn) Brief Address by Suzanne Last Stone, Cardozo Law School Topic: Law and Narrative in Jewish Law

Day 3 (Tuesday, September 9, 2008)
8:00 am	Gathering and Refreshments (Frist)
8:30 am	Panel VIII: Between Theological and Political Hebraism in Early Modernity Chairperson: Mordechai Feingold, California Institute of TechnologyGuido Bartolucci, University of Bologna Topic: From Prisca Theologia to Respublica Hebraeorum: History of an IdeologyClaude Stuczynski, Bar Ilan University Topic: Providentialism in Early Modern Catholic Iberia: Competing Influences of Hebraic Political Traditions Yechiel M. Leiter, University of Haifa Topic: The Political Hebraism of John Locke’s First Treatise of Government Anne Oravetz Albert, University of Pennsylvania Topic: Isaac Aboab da Fonseca’s Treatise on the Herem
10:30 am	Coffee Break (Frist)
10:45 am	Panel IX: Hebraism in America Chairperson: Alan Mittleman, Jewish Theological Seminary Discussant: Glenn Moots, Northwood UniversityAndrew R. Murphy, Rutgers University Topic: New Israel in New England: The American Jeremiad and the Hebrew ScripturesShira Wolosky, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Topic: “Old Testament Legalism”: On John Cotton’s Hebraic Politics David J. Chalcraft, University of Derby Topic: Dubois, Sociology, and the Political Legacy of the Hebrew Bible
12:15 pm	Lunch and Break (Nassau Inn)
2:00 pm	Panel X: Samples of Modern Jewish Political Thought Chairperson: Silvia Berti, University of Rome—La Sapienza Discussant: Emile Perreau-Saussine, Cambridge UniversityFrancesca Yardenit Albertini, University of Potsdam Topic: The Concept of Israel by Manuel Joël (1826-1890)Ari Ackerman, Schechter Institute Topic: Nationalism and Universalism in the Social Thought of Mordecai Kaplan
3:15 pm	Coffee Break (Frist)
3:30 pm	Panel XI: Viewing the Modern World of Nations Through Hebraic Lenses Chairperson: Arthur Eyffinger, The Hague Discussant: Daniel C. Kurtzer, Princeton UniversityMichael A. Rosenthal, University of Washington Topic: Between Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft: The Jewish Nation and the Idea of Biblical Science in Weimar GermanyErica Weiss, Princeton University Topic: Finding Hebraic Justice for Adolf Eichmann
5:00 pm	Closing Event (Nassau Inn) Closing discussion moderated by Arthur Eyffinger, followed by Cocktails