Religion and State in Jewish Philosophy: Models of Unity, Division, Collision and Subordination

by Aviezer Ravitzky

This volume presents a selection of writings on issues of religion and state from the Golden Age of Jewish philosophy, which extended from the time of Maimonides until the expulsion of the Jews from Spain and Portugal. Prof. Ravitzky’s discussions of the texts highlight their contemporary relevance.

152 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1998

About the author

Professor Aviezer Ravtizky was a Senior Fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute (IDI) where he directed the Religion and State project along with Professor Yedidia Stern. His areas of expertise include Jewish thought, philosophy, religion and state, religious radicalism, and Israeli society and ideology.

Professor Ravitzky was born in Jerusalem in 1945. He received his Ph.D. (summa cum laude) from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and was a Post Doctorate Fellow at Harvard University.

Professor Ravitzky has taught as a visiting professor at leading universities in the United States including Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, Rice University, Yeshiva University, Brown University, and the Jewish Theological Seminary. Professor Ravitzky is the Sol Rosenblum Professor of Jewish Philosophy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and has served as the Chair of the Department of Jewish Thought and as Chairman of the Institute of Jewish Studies at the Hebrew University. He has also served as a member of the Israeli Counsel of Higher Education and a member of the Israel-Prize Committee of Judges.

In 2001, Professor Ravitzky was honored with Israel's most prestigious award, the Israel Prize, for his research in Jewish Thought.

Professor Ravitzky has written and edited numerous books and articles, including Is a Halakhic State Possible? The Paradox of Jewish Theocracy (Israel Democracy Institute 2004), The Land of Israel in Modern Jewish Thought (Yad Ben Zvi, 3 Volumes 1991, 1998, 2004), Religion and State in Jewish Philosophy (Israel Democracy Institute 2002), Religious and Secular Jews in Israel: A Kulturkampf? (Israel Democracy Institute 2000), History and Faith (JC Gieben 1996), and Messianism, Zionism and Jewish Religious Radicalism (Chicago University Press 1996).

He and his wife Ruth have four children and reside in Jerusalem.