The Jewish national revival of our times has stimulated scholarly interest in the historical origins and manifestations of Jewry's distinctive traditions of constitutional thought and political action. This study is a contribution to that enquiry. Focusing on the structures of communal rule forged during the first five centuries of the common era, the book presents an analysis of the processes whereby the rabbis and their disciples replaced both priests and civic rulers as foci of political royalty and instruments of domestic government throughout the Jewish world. Cohen argues that much of Jewish political history during the age of the Mishnah and Talmud can be read as a record of the attempt to reinterpret the ancient concept of the three crowns (or clusters of rulership which determined Jewish public behaviour) and adapt it to rabbinic purposes.
- ISBN13 9780521372909
- Publish Date 22 February 1990
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country GB
- Imprint Cambridge University Press
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 308
- Language English