Category Books

What Judaism Says about Politics: The Political Theology of the Torah »

Authors: Martin Sicker
ISBN-13: 9780876687765, ISBN-10: 0876687761
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Aronson, Jason Inc.
Date Published: May 1993
Edition: (Non-applicable)

Author Biography: Martin Sicker

Book Synopsis

A study by a political scientist of traditional Jewish sources for their ideas about justice, law, and society.

Booknews

The author, a consultant on international strategic and political affairs, asserts that Judaism offers a guideline for the moral basis of a good society, and he explores how traditional Jewish sources deal with the fundamental concept of man and society. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

	Introduction
1	The Idea of Torah	1
	The Meanings of "Torah"	1
	The Teaching of Simeon the Just	9
	The Universal Dimension of Torah	17
	Torah and Ethics	20
	The Teaching of Eleazar ben Azariah	22
	The Oral Torah	29
2	The Moral Autonomy of Man	39
	Purpose in Creation	39
	The Centrality of Man	44
	Man in the Image of God	48
	Imitatio Dei	56
3	Between Man and God	65
	Divine Omniscience and the Freedom to Choose	65
	Discussion of the Issue in the Middle Ages	71
	The Reemergence of Gersonides' Argument	83
	Divine Omnipotence and Free Will	86
	The Incomprehensibility Argument	91
	The Semantic Argument	92
	The Limitation of Power Argument	94
	The Retribution Argument	97
	The Divine Withdrawal Argument	100
4	Man and Society	105
	Man as a Social Being	105
	Equality versus Liberty	108
	The Responsibility of the Individual to Society	117
	The Political Imperative	125
	A Universal Society?	130
	The Moral Basis of the State	132
	The Question of Majority Rule	134
	The Importance of Education	139
	Limiting the Public Burden	143
	Building a Fence around the Torah	144
5	Torah as Justice and Law	149
	The Concept of Lovingkindness	149
	Justice and Righteousness	154
	Justice and Law	160
	The Teaching of Simeon ben Gamaliel	164
	Equality Before the Law	169
6	Law: Natural, Conventional, and Divine	175
	The Thought of Joseph Albo	175
	The Views of Later Writers	183
	The Concept of Divine Law	186
7	The Mosaic Law	199
	The 613 Precepts	199
	The Positive and Negative Precepts	209
	Classifying the Precepts	212
	The Decalogue	220
	Can Mosaic Law Be Changed?	225
8	Conclusion	231
	References	235
	Index	247