| A Vigilant Society: Jewish Thought and the State in Medieval Spain Contributor(s): Roiz, Javier (Author), Margaretten, Selma L. (Translator) |
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ISBN: 1438445636 ISBN-13: 9781438445632 Publisher: State University of New York Press OUR PRICE: $90.25 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: March 2013 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Religion | Judaism - Theology - Political Science | History & Theory - General - History | Europe - Medieval |
| Dewey: 296.382 |
| LCCN: 2012012853 |
| Physical Information: 1.1" H x 6.3" W x 9.2" (1.4 lbs) 326 pages |
| Themes: - Chronological Period - Medieval (500-1453) - Religious Orientation - Jewish |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: A Vigilant Society presents a provocative hypothesis that argues that Western society as we know it emerged from the soil of Jewish intellectual advances in the thirteenth century, especially those formulated on the Iberian Peninsula. A paradigmatic shift began to occur, one that abandoned the pre-Gothic Sephardic wisdom found in, for example, the writings of Maimonides in favor of what author Javier Roiz calls the "vigilant society." This model embraces a conception of politics that includes a radical privatization of an individual's interior life and--especially as adopted and adapted in later centuries by Roman Catholic and Calvinist thinkers--is marked by a style of politics that accepts the dominance of power and control as given. Vigilant society laid the foundation for the Western understanding of politics and its institutions and remains pervasive in today's world. |