TABLE OF CONTENTS: Preface ix
Abbreviations Used in Text xiii
Introduction 3
Individuals and Societies: Rights and Duties 3
Autonomy and Personal Claims 12
The Political Dilemma of Modem Jews 25
Haim Cohn and the Secularization of Jewish Law 32
Chapter I. God and Human Persons 36
God's Absolute Power 36
Power as a Right 40
Negative Commandments 44
Positive Commandments 50
Chapter II. Human Persons and God 56
Dependence as the Primary Human Claim on God 56
Prayer: Cognitive or Emotive? 60
God's Commandments as Human Rights 65
The Human Right to God's Justice 71
Chapter III. God and Covenanted Community 77
The Immediacy of the Community 77
Election and Covenant 84
General Covenantal Claims on the Community: Justice 86
Specific Covenantal Claims on the Community: Compassion 90
Specific Covenantal Claims on the Community: Public Worship 94
The Most Specific Covenantal Claim on the Community: Martyrdom 96
Chapter IV. Covenanted Community and God 99
Covenantal Faithfulness 99
Specific Jewish Covenantal Claims 105
Legal Authority as a Communal Right 108
Chapter V. Between Human Persons 117
Personal Mutuality 117
What Is Hateful to You 119
Retaliation 121
Self-Interest and Self-Love 122
Rights and Self-Interest Alone 131
The Love of Neighbor 142
Who Is Your Neighbor? 147
Chapter VI. Covenanted Community and Human Persons 153
The Covenanted Community 153
Community and Normative Generality 158
Familial Duty 166
According to Nature 172
Exceptions to the Norm of Procreation 176
The Lethal Claims of the Community 179
Chapter VII. Human Persons and Covenanted Community 187
The Contemporary Importance of Individual Rights 187
The Right to Protection from Harm 187
The Right to Public Assistance 192
The Right to Social Inclusion 196
Individual Rights against Society 204
Naboth's Vineyard 205
The Right of Eminent Domain 209
The Issue of Public Violence 214
Bibliography 219
Index 233
Return to Book Description File created: 11/5/2009 | 
