About the Book
In this first volume of a trilogy, Daniel J. Elazar addresses political uses of the idea of covenant, the tradition that has adhered to that idea, and the political arrangements that flow from it,
Among the topics covered are covenant as a political concept, the Bible as a political commentary, the post-biblical tradition, medieval covenant theory, and Jewish political culture.
Table of Contents:
I: The Idea; 1: Covenant as a Political Concept; 2: Covenant and the Origins of Political Society; 3: Biblical Origins; 4: The Bible and Political Life in Covenant; II: Torah: Covenantal Teaching; 5: Bereshith: The Covenants of Creation; 6: Abraham and His Children: Migration and Covenant; 7: Federal versus Natural Man; 8: Freedom and Covenant: Exodus, Sinai, and Sefer Habrit; 9: The Mosaic Polity: What Else Happened at Sinai?; 10: From Covenant to Constitution: Deuteronomy; III: The Classic Biblical Utopia; 11: Joshua: God’s Federal Republic; 12: Fostering Civic Virtue; 13: Joshua’s Farewell Addresses; 14: Judges: The Reality?; IV: The Alternate Model; 15: Covenant and Kingdom: Dealing with Fundamental Regime Change; 16: The Institutionalized Federal Monarchy; 17: Covenant as Judgment, Law, and Government; 18: Covenant Applied: Israelite Political Organization; V: The Postbiblical Tradition; 19: Talmudic Constitutionalism; 20: Medieval Covenant Theory; 21: Covenant and Polity in the Premodern Jewish Historical Experience; 22: The Covenant Tradition in Modernity; 23: The Covenant Idea and the Jewish Political Tradition: A Summary Statement
Review :
-Covenant and Polity in Biblical Israel is a great contribution to the historical and theoretical understanding of the role of founding covenants as Biblical religious and political concepts.-
--Kenneth L. Deutsch, Journal of Politics
-Elazar's political reading of the Hebrew Scriptures is not only coherent--it is compelling... It is a pleasure to accompany him as he shows how the text lived and lives in the political culture of freedom-loving peoples.-
--Alan Mittleman, professor or religion, Muhlenberg College
-Daniel Elazar's Covenant and Polity in Biblical Israel is deserving of careful study by those who wish to understand the most fundamental concepts that are at the foundation of American and Western civilizations and that hold the key to the future of human civilization.-
--Vincent Ostrom, Arthur F. Bentley Professor Emeritus of Political Science, Indiana University
-Elazar's political reading of the entire Bible, while strikingly original and penetrating, is at the same time clear and straightforward.-
--Robert A. Licht, Visiting Scholar, the Meyerhoff Center for Jewish Studies, University of Maryland
-Professor Elazar has drawn on his lifetime of research and reflection to introduce contemporary readers to the Bible as a classic of political theory... He leads us beyond the slogans liberation to the complex work of founding new orders of justice in the midst of conflicts between inherited kinship and voluntary association.-
--William Johnson Everett, professor of ethics and ecclesiology, Emory University
"Covenant and Polity in Biblical Israel is a great contribution to the historical and theoretical understanding of the role of founding covenants as Biblical religious and political concepts."
--Kenneth L. Deutsch, Journal of Politics
"Elazar's political reading of the Hebrew Scriptures is not only coherent--it is compelling... It is a pleasure to accompany him as he shows how the text lived and lives in the political culture of freedom-loving peoples."
--Alan Mittleman, professor or religion, Muhlenberg College
"Daniel Elazar's Covenant and Polity in Biblical Israel is deserving of careful study by those who wish to understand the most fundamental concepts that are at the foundation of American and Western civilizations and that hold the key to the future of human civilization."
--Vincent Ostrom, Arthur F. Bentley Professor Emeritus of Political Science, Indiana University
"Elazar's political reading of the entire Bible, while strikingly original and penetrating, is at the same time clear and straightforward."
--Robert A. Licht, Visiting Scholar, the Meyerhoff Center for Jewish Studies, University of Maryland
"Professor Elazar has drawn on his lifetime of research and reflection to introduce contemporary readers to the Bible as a classic of political theory... He leads us beyond the slogans liberation to the complex work of founding new orders of justice in the midst of conflicts between inherited kinship and voluntary association."
--William Johnson Everett, professor of ethics and ecclesiology, Emory University
"Covenant and Polity in Biblical Israel is a great contribution to the historical and theoretical understanding of the role of founding covenants as Biblical religious and political concepts."
--Kenneth L. Deutsch, Journal of Politics
"Elazar's political reading of the Hebrew Scriptures is not only coherent--it is compelling... It is a pleasure to accompany him as he shows how the text lived and lives in the political culture of freedom-loving peoples."
--Alan Mittleman, professor or religion, Muhlenberg College
"Daniel Elazar's Covenant and Polity in Biblical Israel is deserving of careful study by those who wish to understand the most fundamental concepts that are at the foundation of American and Western civilizations and that hold the key to the future of human civilization."
--Vincent Ostrom, Arthur F. Bentley Professor Emeritus of Political Science, Indiana University
"Elazar's political reading of the entire Bible, while strikingly original and penetrating, is at the same time clear and straightforward."
--Robert A. Licht, Visiting Scholar, the Meyerhoff Center for Jewish Studies, University of Maryland
"Professor Elazar has drawn on his lifetime of research and reflection to introduce contemporary readers to the Bible as a classic of political theory... He leads us beyond the slogans liberation to the complex work of founding new orders of justice in the midst of conflicts between inherited kinship and voluntary association."
--William Johnson Everett, professor of ethics and ecclesiology, Emory University
"Covenant and Polity in Biblical Israel is a great contribution to the historical and theoretical understanding of the role of founding covenants as Biblical religious and political concepts."
--Kenneth L. Deutsch, Journal of Politics
"Elazar's political reading of the Hebrew Scriptures is not only coherent--it is compelling... It is a pleasure to accompany him as he shows how the text lived and lives in the political culture of freedom-loving peoples."
--Alan Mittleman, professor or religion, Muhlenberg College
"Daniel Elazar's Covenant and Polity in Biblical Israel is deserving of careful study by those who wish to understand the most fundamental concepts that are at the foundation of American and Western civilizations and that hold the key to the future of human civilization."
--Vincent Ostrom, Arthur F. Bentley Professor Emeritus of Political Science, Indiana University
"Elazar's political reading of the entire Bible, while strikingly original and penetrating, is at the same time clear and straightforward."
--Robert A. Licht, Visiting Scholar, the Meyerhoff Center for Jewish Studies, University of Maryland
"Professor Elazar has drawn on his lifetime of research and reflection to introduce contemporary readers to the Bible as a classic of political theory... He leads us beyond the slogans liberation to the complex work of founding new orders of justice in the midst of conflicts between inherited kinship and voluntary association."
--William Johnson Everett, professor of ethics and ecclesiology, Emory University
