Renaissance England's Chief Rabbi: John Selden (Hardcover)

In the midst of an age of prejudice, John Selden's immense, neglected rabbinical works contain magnificent Hebrew scholarship that respects, to an extent remarkable for the times, the self-understanding of Judaism. Scholars celebrated for their own broad and deep learning gladly conceded Selden's superiority and conferred on him titles such as "the glory of the English nation" (Hugo Grotius), "Monarch in letters" (Ben Jonson), "the chief of learned men reputed in this land" (John Milton). Although scholars have examined Selden (1584-1654) as a political theorist, legal and constitutional historian, and parliamentarian, Renaissance England's Chief Rabbi is the first book-length study of his rabbinic and especially talmudic publications, which take up most of the six folio volumes of his complete works and constitute his most mature scholarship. It traces the cultural influence of these works on some early modern British poets and intellectuals, including Jonson, Milton, Andrew Marvell, James Harrington, Henry Stubbe, Nathanael Culverwel, Thomas Hobbes, and Isaac Newton. It also explores some of the post-biblical Hebraic ideas that served as the foundation of Selden's own thought, including his identification of natural law with a set of universal divine laws of perpetual obligation pronounced by God to our first parents in paradise and after the flood to the children of Noah. Selden's discovery in the Talmud and in Maimonides' Mishneh Torah of shared moral rules in the natural, pre-civil state of humankind provides a basis for relationships among human beings anywhere in the world. The history of the religious toleration of Jews in England is incomplete without acknowledgment of theimpact of Selden's uncommonly generous Hebrew scholarship.

General

Imprint:	Oxford UniversityPress
Country of origin:	United Kingdom
Release date:	2006
First published:	March 2006
Authors:	Jason P. Rosenblatt
Dimensions:	242 x 163 x 30mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Hardcover
Pages:	328
ISBN-13:	978-0-19-928613-3
Categories:	Books > Language & Literature > Literature: history & criticism > Poetry & poets > General Books > Humanities > History > World history > 1500 to 1750 Books > Humanities > History > British & Irish history > General Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Ethnic studies > Jewish studies Books > History > British & Irish history > General Books > History > World history > 1500 to 1750 Promotions
LSN:	0-19-928613-2
Barcode:	9780199286133

Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate? Let us know about it.

Does this product have an incorrect or missing image? Send us a new image.

Is this product missing categories? Add more categories.

Review This Product

No reviews yet - be the first to create one!