Hebraic-Biblical Political Thinking

This article explores the contribution of the Bible to the ideas by which both philosophers and ordinary persons comprehend their political worlds. The author analyzes three clusters of ideas associated with Hebraic-Biblical thinking: nationalism, centered on the concept of "love" by which a charismatic hero-leader congregates a people into an historical, covenanted community; revolution, centered on the choice with which a prophetic figure challenges a people to alter radically their mode of life; and the confessional life, centered on the prayerful, internal experience through which the individual seeks a durable sense of personal identity and commitment within the social context. He concludes that these ideas, derived from the Hebraic social-religious mentality, differ from similar ideas in the West that have different origins.