The Hebrew Republic? Divine Authority and Self-Governance

Dr. Kyle Swan

Abstract

This article makes a case for the surprising conclusion that the ancient Israelite tribes and peoples, a group that saw itself as a nation under God’s special care and authority—a kind of theocracy—should be considered to have been a legitimately self-governing society, complete with many of the institutional features of republican forms of government. These features include a recognition of individual liberty and equality, the rule of law, protections of due process, and a separation of powers. The argument proceeds by identifying these features in narrative accounts of Israel’s history in the Hebrew Scriptures, which ground God’s political authority in the device of a covenant.

Kyle Swan, “The Hebrew Republic? Divine Authority and Self-Governance,” The Journal of Private Enterprise, 2019.

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Dr. Kyle Swan
Kyle Swan (PhD, Bowling Green State University) is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Sacramento State University. He specializes in teaching and research on social, moral and political philosophy, economics, and religion.
He is a contributor to numerous scholarly volumes, and his articles and reviews have appeared in such journals as the Journal of Ethics and Social Philosophy, Social Theory and Practice, History of Political Thought, The Independent Review, Religious Studies, Philo, Public Affairs Quarterly, Journal of Religious Ethics, Journal of Moral Philosophy, Journal of Value Inquiry, Philosophia Christi, Journal of Markets and Morality, and Pacific Philosophical Quarterly.