The Bible and political philosophy in modern Jewish thought : Martin Buber\u27s theocracy and its reception in an Israeli context

Feature: The philosophy of Martin Buber and his biblical hermeneutics: between Germanness and JewishnessThis paper aims to shed some light on the association between the Bible and political philosophy in modern Jewish thought from the angle of Martin Buber\u27s notion of theocracy. To begin with, I will present an overall picture of the general relationship between both the Bible and political philosophy before moving onto Buber\u27s notion of theocracy. Then, I will attempt to obtain a bird\u27s-eye view of the question of theocracy by examining how Buber\u27s thought has been evaluated by the recent scholars of Jewish thought who have addressed Buber\u27s ideology in earnest. In his The Kingdom of God (Königtum Gottes) (1932), Martin Buber (1878–1965) provides in-depth insight into the concept of theocracy, which is of critical importance in considering the relationship between religion and politics. Issues relating to theocracy as raised by Buber are being studied in various fields and still ignite active discussions today