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Full Description
Covenantal Rights is a groundbreaking work of political theory: a comprehensive, philosophically sophisticated attempt to bring insights from the Jewish political tradition into current political and legal debates about rights and to bring rights discourse more fully into Jewish thought. David Novak pursues these aims by presenting a theory of rights founded on the covenant between God and the Jewish people as that covenant is constituted by Scripture and the rabbinic tradition. In doing so, he presents a powerful challenge to prevailing liberal and conservative positions on rights and duties and opens a new chapter in contemporary Jewish political thinking. For Novak, "covenantal rights" are rooted in God's primary rights as creator of the universe and as the elector of a particular community whose members relate to this God as their sovereign. The subsequent rights of individuals and communities flow from God's covenantal promises, which function as irrevocable entitlements. This presents a sharp contrast to the liberal tradition, in which rights flow above all from individuals.
It also challenges the conservative idea that duties can take precedence over rights, since Novak argues that there are no covenantal duties that are not backed by correlative rights. Novak explains carefully and clearly how this theory of covenantal rights fits into Jewish tradition and applies to the relationships among God, the covenanted community, and individuals. This work is a profound and provocative contribution to contemporary religious and political theory.
Contents
Preface ix Abbreviations Used in Text xiii Introduction 3 Individuals and Societies: Rights and Duties 3 Autonomy and Personal Claims 12 The Political Dilemma of Modern Jews 25 Haim Cohn and the Secularization of Jewish Law 32 Chapter I. God and Human Persons 36 God's Absolute Power 36 Power as a Right 40 Negative Commandments 44 Positive Commandments 50 Chapter II. Human Persons and God 56 Dependence as the Primary Human Claim on God 56 Prayer: Cognitive or Emotive? 60 God's Commandments as Human Rights 65 The Human Right to God's Justice 71 Chapter III. God and Covenanted Community 77 The Immediacy of the Community 77 Election and Covenant 84 General Covenantal Claims on the Community: Justice 86 Specific Covenantal Claims on the Community: Compassion 90 Specific Covenantal Claims on the Community: Public Worship 94 The Most Specific Covenantal Claim on the Community: Martyrdom 96 Chapter IV. Covenanted Community and God 99 Covenantal Faithfulness 99 Specific Jewish Covenantal Claims 105 Legal Authority as a Communal Right 108 Chapter V. Between Human Persons 117 Personal Mutuality 117 What Is Hateful to You 119 Retaliation 121 Self-Interest and Self-Love 122 Rights and Self-Interest Alone 131 The Love of Neighbor 142 Who Is Your Neighbor? 147 Chapter VI. Covenanted Community and Human Persons 153 The Covenanted Community 153 Community and Normative Generality 158 Familial Duty 166 According to Nature 172 Exceptions to the Norm of Procreation 176 The Lethal Claims of the Community 179 Chapter VII. Human Persons and Covenanted Community 187 The Contemporary Importance of Individual Rights 187 The Right to Protection from Harm 187 The Right to Public Assistance 192 The Right to Social Inclusion 196 Individual Rights against Society 204 Naboth's Vineyard 205 The Right of Eminent Domain 209 The Issue of Public Violence 214 Bibliography 219 Index 233
