Old Testament and English Political Thought

This is a Reading List based upon a Liberty Fund Conference on “Liberty, Covenant, and the Old Testament Roots of English Political Thought.”

Liberty, Covenant, and the Old Testament Roots of English Political Thought

Topic

These readings explore the ways in which a number of leading early modern political theorists (Spinoza, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, James Harrington, and John Milton) were influenced by the Old Testament, in particular the ideas of God giving the Law to Moses and the covenant between God and the Hebrew people.

Guide to the Readings

Editions used:

• The Parallel Bible. The Holy Bible containing the Old and New Testaments translated out of the Original Tongues: being the Authorised Version arranged in parallel columns with the Revised Version (Oxford University Press, 1885).
• Benedict de Spinoza, The Chief Works of Benedict de Spinoza, translated from the Latin, with an Introduction by R.H.M. Elwes, vol. 1 Introduction, Tractatus-Theologico-Politicus, Tractatus Politicus. Revised edition (London: George Bell and Sons, 1891).
• Hobbes’s Leviathan reprinted from the edition of 1651 with an Essay by the Late W.G. Pogson Smith (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1909).
• John Locke, Two Treatises of Government, ed. Thomas Hollis (London: A. Millar et al., 1764).
• James Harrington, The Oceana and Other Works of James Harrington, with an Account of His Life by John Toland (London: Becket and Cadell, 1771).
• John Milton, The Prose Works of John Milton, With a Biographical Introduction by Rufus Wilmot Griswold. In Two Volumes (Philadelphia: John W. Moore, 1847).

See also in the Online Library of Liberty:

• Collections: Religion and Political Thought
• Collections: The Divine Right of Kings vs. Individual Rights
• Collections: The English Civil War

For additional reading see;

• Thomas Hobbes
• Sir Robert Filmer
• John Milton

Session I: Old Testament

The Parallel Bible. The Holy Bible containing the Old and New Testaments translated out of the Original Tongues: being the Authorised Version arranged in parallel columns with the Revised Version (Oxford University Press, 1885).

• Genesis, Chaps. 9, 17, 28
• Exodus, Chaps. 16-20
• Deuteronomy, Chaps. 28-31
• Joshua, Chap. 24
• Judges, Chap. 1-2
• I Samuel, Chap. 8
• I Kings, Chaps. 11, 21

Session II: Spinoza

Benedict de Spinoza, The Chief Works of Benedict de Spinoza, translated from the Latin, with an Introduction by R.H.M. Elwes, vol. 1 Introduction, Tractatus-Theologico-Politicus, Tractatus Politicus. Revised edition (London: George Bell and Sons, 1891).

• Chapter XVII.: It Is Shown That No One Can, Or Need, Transfer All His Rights to the Sovereign Power. of the Hebrew Republic, As It Was During the Lifetime Or Moses, and After His Death, Till the Foundation of the Monarchy; and of Its Excellence.
• Chapter XVIII.: From the Commonwealth of the Hebrews, and Their History, Certain Political Doctrines Are Deduced
• Chapter XIX.: It Is Shown That the Right Over Matters Spirittual, Lies Wholly With the Sovereign, and That the Outward Forms of Religion Should Be In Accordance With Public Peace, If We Would Obey God Aright

Session III: Hobbes

Hobbes’s Leviathan reprinted from the edition of 1651 with an Essay by the Late W.G. Pogson Smith (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1909).

• XXX .: of the Office of the Soveraign Representative.
• XXXI.: of the Kingdome of God By Nature
• XXXIX .: of the Signification In Scripture of the Word Church
• XL .: of the Rights of the Kingdome of God, In Abraham, Moses, the High Priests, and the Kings of Judah.
• XLII .: of Power Ecclesiasticall

Session IV: Locke

Two Treatises of Government, ed. Thomas Hollis (London: A. Millar et al., 1764).

• First Treatise
  • Chap. IV. Of Adam’s Title to Sovereignty By Donation, Gen. I. 28. Sects. 21-32
  • Chap. IX. Of Monarchy, By Inheritance From Adam. Sects. 81-96
  • Chap. XI. Who Heir? Sects. 120-130
• Second Treatise
  • Chap. I
  • Chap. VI. Of Paternal Power
  • Chap. VIII. Of the Beginning of Political Societies

Session V: Harrington

James Harrington, The Oceana and Other Works of James Harrington, with an Account of His Life by John Toland (London: Becket and Cadell, 1771).

• The Preliminarys, Shewing the Principles of Government
• A System of Politics Delineated In Short and Easy Aphorisms. Publish’d From the Author’s Own Manuscript.

Session VI: Milton

John Milton, The Prose Works of John Milton, With a Biographical Introduction by Rufus Wilmot Griswold. In Two Volumes (Philadelphia: John W. Moore, 1847). Vol. 2.

• A Defence of the People of England, In Answer to Salmasius’s Defence of the King., Chapter III
• The Ready and Easy Way to Establish a Free Commonwealth, and the Excellence Thereof, Compared With the Inconveniencies and Dangers of Readmitting Kingship In This Nation