It is a common belief that scripture has no place in modern, secular politics. Graham Hammill challenges this notion in The Mosaic Constitution, arguing that Moses's constitution of Israel, which created people bound by the rule of law, was central to early modern writings about government and state. Hammill shows how political writers from Machiavelli to Spinoza drew on Mosaic narrative to imagine constitutional forms of government. At the same time, literary writers like Christopher Marlowe, Michael Drayton, and John Milton turned to Hebrew scripture to probe such fundamental divisions as those between populace and multitude, citizenship and race, and obedience and individual choice. As these writers used biblical narrative to fuse politics with the creative resources of language, Mosaic narrative also gave them a means for exploring divine authority as a product of literary imagination. The first book to place Hebrew scripture at the cutting edge of seventeenth-century literary and political innovation, The Mosaic Constitution offers a fresh perspective on political theology and the relations between literary representation and the founding of political communities.
Product Identifiers
Publisher
The University of Chicago Press
ISBN-13
9780226315423
eBay Product ID (ePID)
113926389
Product Key Features
Subject Area
Political Science
Author
Graham Hammill
Publication Name
The Mosaic Constitution: Political Theology and Imagination from Machiavelli to Milton
Format
Hardcover
Language
English
Publication Year
2012
Type
Textbook
Number of Pages
344 Pages
Dimensions
Item Height
242mm
Item Width
166mm
Item Weight
638g
Additional Product Features
Title_Author
Graham Hammill
Topic
Literature, Religious History
Country/Region of Manufacture
United States
Best Selling in Adult Learning & University
Current slide {CURRENT_SLIDE} of {TOTAL_SLIDES}- Best Selling in Adult Learning & University