MR Menachem Lorberbaum Politics and Law sku-52893657

MR Menachem Lorberbaum's hardcover book, sku-52893657, is listed under Religion & Religious Studies Books. It examines how political concepts emerged in medieval Jewish thought. Alongside the Bible's theocratic elements, it identifies a tradition that treats politics as legitimate worldly activity preceding religious law in the ordering of society.

The book contrasts the modern separation of religion and state, associated with freedom of conscience, with its medieval roles: protecting religious law from monarchs and defending human political authority against theocratic and clerical claims. It argues for the precedence of politics in organizing social life and considers how revelation and legislation might coexist.

Drawing on canonical Jewish legal sources, it analyzes Maimonides and works by Nahmanides, Solomon ibn Adret, and Nissim Gerondi that are less familiar to English-speaking readers. It also considers what Jewish political writing can contribute to current debates about church-state relations and theocratic societies.