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| author |
Reuven Pepper
| | title |
Sovereignty Without Debt: The Political Theology of Jonathan Sacks
| | abstract |
Jonathan Sacks is a world-renowned Chief Rabbi, scholar, and prolific writer who has written a plethora of books that speak to his moral diagnosis of ills facing Western society. Sacks' writing enables the transition sought by the globalized present to reintroduce religion to the public square. This paper will discuss Sacks' tireless efforts to unmask the theological assumptions that constitute the democratic endeavor. This paper will further expose the theological and Biblical antecedents for the normative attraction of power that guides Western styles of political sovereignty. In doing so, Sacks will propose the necessary mechanisms for redistributive justice that direct sovereign formations of power against the principles that corrupt power. A hermeneutical approach will explore the innerworkings of Sacks' theological consciousness to reveal what may not have been apparent in Sacks' own language. To accomplish this, it will be shown how Sacks justifies his own theological proclivity for the redistributive forces of justice that seek to reverse the obligation for the debt that legitimizes sovereign formations of power. To that end, this paper will illustrate in detail how Sacks' concept of Divine sovereignty and its direct impact on social and political conceptions of indebtedness complicates and embraces its theological antecedents. It will be shown how Sacks reads the Hebrew Bible as resource for rethinking the vision for redistributive justice in Western society. To illustrate Sacks' position in depth, the tenets of this vision – Tzeduka (charity), jubilee, and Sabbath – will be explored. The sovereignty engendered by these positions will also serve as the hermeneutical fulcrum that seeks its assertion against the framing of capital accumulation. This paper will conclude with a vision of sovereignty uninhibited by its accruing indebtedness.
| | school |
The Theological School, Drew University
| | degree |
M.A. (2021)
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| advisor |
Chris Boesel
Althea Spencer-Miller
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| committee |
Catherine Keller
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| full text | RPepper.pdf - requires Drew uLogin |
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