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;
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
- Second Treatise
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.
Reading Lists
- Addison and Smith: Freedom and Responsibility
- American Liberty in Political Documents before 1787
- An Introduction to the Major Writings of Ludwig von Mises
- Banned Books
- British and French Sources of American Constitutionalism
- Burlamaqui, Bayle: Freedom Tolerance, Natural Law
- Cato’s Letters: Liberty and Responsibility
- Cobden: Liberty and Peace
- Constant’s Principles of Politics
- Emerson on Anti-slavery
- Eric Mack, An Introduction to the Political Thought of John Locke
- Gibbon and the Rise of Christianity and Islam
- Homer’s Iliad: Liberty and Responsibility
- Hume, Smith, and Ferguson: Wealth, Commerce, and Corruption
- Hume: History of England
- James Tyrrell on Authority and Liberty
- Jefferson-Hamilton Debate
- John Milton: Liberty in his Prose and Poetry
- Major Political Thinkers: Plato to Mill
- Mandeville: Vice, Virtue and Liberty
- Mill-Macaulay Debate on Government
- Old Testament and English Political Thought
- Political Sermons of the Founding Era
- Readings from the OLL Reader
- Rousseau and Hume: Contrasting Views of Liberty
- Shakespeare and Marlowe: Liberty in Four Plays
- Shakespeare: Liberty and Responsibility
- Socialist Tracts
- Sophocles and Aeschylus: Blood Justice and the Founding of Legal Order
- Tacitus: Liberty and Tyranny in the Annals
- The Ruling Class and the State: An Anthology
- Thomas Paine and American Liberty
- Thucydides: War, Empire, and Liberty