RELJ 3559. Political Theology and Israel    

Fall 2016, University of Virginia

Instructor: Michael Weinman

Time and Place: TuTh 11:00AM - 12:15PM, Physics Building Room 210

Office Hour: Th, 9:40 - 10:40, New Cabell Hall, 227

Email: mdw4h@eservices.virginia.edu

 

Course Description

This course investigates the tradition of Political Theology, which we will understand as a thesis that finds an inextricable connection between two phenomena. First, the constitution of a political community, achieved by means a covenant [Hebrew: brit] between an established state, personified by the figure of the “head of state,” and its people. Second, the constitution of a spiritual community by means a covenant [Hebrew: brit] between an established church, personified by the figure of its God-as-King and its people. The locus classicus for this thesis is Spinoza’s Theological-Political Treatise, which hugely influential text will be the center of our discussions. Before reading Spinoza, we begin with a unit on his “precursors,” including selections from the Torah and the Prophets, and from the medieval tradition by Al-Farabi, Rambam (“Maimonides”), and Ibn Roschd (“Averroes”). Following our reading of Spinoza we close the class with a unit on “responses” to his work, including Schmitt, Benjamin, and Derrida.  Interspersed on the basis of topical proximity will be works by Arendt, Agamben, Butler, Leibowitz and Levinas on the specific question of "political theology" and the modern state of Israel.

 

Course Readings

Arendt, H. (Kohn, J. and R. H. Feldman, eds.). 2008. Jewish Writings. New York: Random House (Schocken Books).

Leibowitz, Y (Goldman, ed.).1995. Judaism, Human Values, and the Jewish State. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Levinas, E (Aronowicz, tr.). 1990. Nine Talmudic Readings. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.

Parens, J. and J. C. Macfarland, eds. 2011. Medieval Political Philosophy: A Sourcebook, Second Edition. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

Schmitt, C. (Schwab, tr.). 2006 (1985 [1934]). Political Theology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Spinoza, B (Israel, ed.). 2007. Theological-Political Treatise. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Course Reader, with selections from Agamben, Benjamin, Butler, Leibowitz, Levinas.

 

Requirements

Attendance is expected. More than two absences (absences from two sessions of 90 minutes) in a semester will result in a participation grade reduction of one grade step (e.g., B+ to B). 

 

Writing Assignments (and late submission policy): Over the course of the semester, you will complete two brief essays (ca. 1500 words each), the first responding to our opening unit on precursors to Spinoza and the second on Spinoza. Building upon these, you will close the semester with a final essay of approximately 2500 words in length, should be a substantial response to a theme of your choosing, drawn from the class readings as you will have already worked on them in the unit essays. In order to ensure the essay's success, you will submit a proposal that will include both a 500-word abstract of what you will show in the essay and how you intend to do so. Essays that are up to 24 hours late will be downgraded one full grade (from B+ to C+, for example). Essays submitted more than 24 hours late, if accepted at the instructor’s discretion, will be submitted within four weeks of the deadline and cannot receive a grade of higher than C. Thereafter, the student will receive a failing grade for the assignment.

 

Grade Breakdown

50% Unit essays; 10%: Participation; 10% final essay proposal; 30%: Final essay

 

Course Schedule

Week	Tuesday	Thursday	Writing (due Friday)
Unit 1. Political Theology before Spinoza: Biblical Sources and Medieval Reception
22.8	Exodus, Chs. 1-20; Leibowitz, Judaism, Ch. 1 (pp. 3-29)	Exodus, Chs. 21-40
29.8	Joshua; Leibowitz, Judaism, Chs. 19-20 (pp. 205-20)	Judges
5.9	1 Samuel; Leibowitz, Judaism, Ch. 7 (pp. 79-87)	2 Samuel
12.9	Alfarabi, “The Book of Religion” (MPP, pp. 24-35); MPP, Part I Intro (pp. 11-17)	Alfarabi, “The Political Regime” (MPP, pp. 36-55)
19.9	Maimonides, “Guide” (MPP, 183-202); Leibowitz, Judaism, Ch. 10 (pp. 106-22)	Averroes, “Decisive Treatise” (MPP, pp. 123-40); MPP, General Intro (1-7)	Unit Essay 1 Friday, 9.23
Unit 2. Spinoza’s Theological-Political Treatise: A Classic of Political Theology
26.9	Spinoza, Theological-Political Treatise (Pref., Chs. 1-2; pp. 3-42)	Spinoza, Theological-Political Treatise (Chs. 3-5; pp. 43-80)
3.10	Spinoza, Theological-Political Treatise (Chs. 6-7; pp. 81-117)	Spinoza, Theological-Political Treatise (Chs. 8-11; pp. 118-62)
10.10	Spinoza, Theological-Political Treatise (Chs. 12-15; pp. 163-94)	Spinoza, Theological-Political Treatise (Chs. 16-17; pp. 195-229)
17.10	Spinoza, Theological-Political Treatise (Chs. 18-19; pp. 230-49)	Spinoza, Theological-Political Treatise (Ch. 20; pp. 250-59)
Unit 3. Political Theology and the Turbulent Twentieth Century
24.10	Schmitt, Political Theology, Ch. 1	Schmitt, Political Theology, Ch. 3	Unit Essay 2 Friday, 10.28
31.10	Benjamin, “Theses on the Philosophy of History”	Benjamin, “Critique of Violence”
7.11	Agamben, Homo Sacer, I.§3-4	Agamben, Homo Sacer, III. §1-2
14.11	Levinas, “Promised Land or Permitted Land” (NTR, 51-69)	Levinas, “Judaism and Revolution” + “The Youth of Israel” (NTR, 94-135)
21.11	Leibowitz, Judaism, Chs. 15-16 (158-84	No Class, Thanksgiving
28.11	Arendt, “Enlightenment Jewish Question; Jewish Question” (JW, 3-18, 42-5)	Arendt, “Zionism Reconsidered” (JW, 343-74)	Final Essay Proposal Friday, 12.2
5.12	Arendt, “We Refugees” (JW, 264-74) Butler, “‘I merely belong to them’”	No Class, Exams week
Final Essay Due: Thursday, 15 December, 23:59

 

This course investigates the tradition of Political Theology, which we will understand as a thesis that finds an inextricable connection between two phenomena. First, the constitution of a political community, achieved by means a covenant [Hebrew: brit] between an established state, personified by the figure of the “head of state,” and its people. Second, the constitution of a spiritual community by means a covenant [Hebrew: brit] between an established church, personified by the figure of its God-as-King and its people. The locus classicus for this thesis is Spinoza’s Theological-Political Treatise, which hugely influential text will be the center of our discussions. Before reading Spinoza, we begin with a unit on his “precursors,” including selections from the Torah and the Prophets, and from the medieval tradition by Al-Farabi, Rambam (“Maimonides”), and Ibn Roschd (“Averroes”). Following our reading of Spinoza we close the class with a unit on “responses” to his work, including Schmitt, Benjamin, and Derrida.  Interspersed on the basis of topical proximity will be works by Arendt, Agamben, Butler, Leibowitz and Levinas on the specific question of "political theology" and the modern state of Israel.