I Must Be on to Something (or Someone)

Just this past Monday I posted here on an interesting book by Yoram Hazony, author of "The Philosophy of Hebrew Scripture." He seemed to like my comments, for what's that's worth. In any event, in today's mail I received the October 2012 issue of First Things magazine containing an article by--wouldn't you know?--Yoram Hazony. This one is titled "The Biblical Case for Limited Government." In short, an excellent précis for the priority of a biblical-covenantal context of state authority over against an Enlightenment (and its contemporary successors) prioritizing of individual natural rights and a social contract as the foundation for state power. A quick review suggests an affinity for the argument I made in Looking for Bedrock: Accounting for Human Rights in Classical Liberalism, Modern Secularism, and the Christian Tradition (abstract here), albeit from a biblical-historical perspective.

"The Biblical Case for Limited Government" isn't yet available at firstthings.com but I strongly encourage folks who don't subscribe to First Things to read it when comes online.