Hobbes and religion … in Hebrew

A collection of scholars weigh in on an odd, but interesting event: the first full publication of Thomas Hobbes’s Leviathan in Hebrew.  While the first two parts (dealing with philosophy and politics) have long been available, the third and fourth (which deal with religion) had not yet been translated and published in the Hebrew language.

Among others, Yoram Hazony laments the suppression of the “Hebraic” side of Hobbes, and philosopher Stephen Darwall lavishes the following praise:

Thomas Hobbes is our greatest political philosopher. Why greatest? Others philosophized in the service of sounder political ideas, like democracy and human rights, but no one else has had Hobbes’s systematic mastery, rigor and originality.

Hobbes’s “state of nature” and authoritarianism have stood the test of time, but his theological thought is largely ignored today (the latter half of “Leviathan” is rarely assigned in class).  It is a bit of a slow read.  Perhaps we need a translation of our own, into modern English…

-Colin

Related posts:

  1. Oh, I don’t know, I like all of them
  2. In defense of reading Heidegger
  3. Science v. Religion Pt. 574
  4. Religion and foreign aid
  5. Is social conservatism a new religion?

November 18, 2009 · Filed Under Colin, History of Political Thought, Uncategorized

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  • Editors

    Jacob Bronsther is a law student at NYU, a former Fulbright Scholar to Mauritius, and a graduate of Cornell University. He has an MPhil in Political Theory from the University of Oxford.

  • Sam Gill is a consultant in Washington and a graduate of the University of Chicago. He studied Political Theory at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar.

  • Marc Grinberg is a Presidential Management Fellow with the U.S. government and a graduate of Princeton University. He earned an MPhil in Political Theory from the University of Oxford.

  • John Rood is the founder of Next Step Test Preparation and a graduate of Michigan State University. He has an AM in Political Theory from the University of Chicago.

  • Luke Freedman is a student at Carleton College, pursuing a double major in Philosophy and Political Science.


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