26 October 2010

The challenge of exile

We need to examine the politics of the Diaspora. 
  • How did the Jewish people meet the challenge of exile? 
  • How well did they manage to preserve the key values of their ancient teachings? 
  • What happened to the politics of self-governance in the context of servility before a host sovereign? 
  • When Jews try to foster allegiance to a foreign sovereign how does that jibe with proclaiming allegiance to their own god? 
  • Put another way, is the separation of Church and State, which is central to the Christian program of a de-politicized understanding of religion, all that helpful to the Jewish understanding, which integrates religion into the political sphere? 

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