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Once upon a time, there was a kingdom in which God ruled directly. This legendary polity gained many names, from "the State of God" to "the Kingdom of Heaven on earth". Most of the time, it has been simply known as "Theocracy". The course will examine the idea of Theocracy from a Jewish perspective across different historical times and from various angles. It inquires how a sovereign Jewish theocracy appeared in the bible, how the Talmud sages reinvented it as an exilic polity, and how different medieval rabbis rebelled against this concept, claiming that nothing is wrong with secular politics. The course examines how, during the Reformation, Theocracy became a political model of ruthless Godly politics, and how various early modern writers thought, against that, that Theocracy signified republicanism and liberty. Finally, the course explores Theocracy in modern Jewish thought, where it sometimes appears as a critical principle enabling reflection on contemporary politics, but other times serves as a basis for various forms of actual politics – from anarchism to totalitarianism. |
