The Hebrew Republic, also “De Republica Hebraeorum”, and also “Respublica Hebraeorum”, is an early modern concept in political theory in which Christian scholars regarded the
Hebrew Bible as a political constitution framing a perfect and
republican government designed by God for the children of Israel.[1][2][3]
In 1582,
Carlo Sigonio published a text entitled De Republica Hebraeorum. It used the format of the De repubblica Athenensium manual. The question of the political structure in ancient Israel had already been addressed before, but Sigonio was the first to adopt a systematic approach. However, he did not know
Hebrew and so used the translation of the
Septuagint, giving rise to not a few problems.[4]
Among the most notable works in the genre are “De Republica Hebraeorum” by
Petrus Cunaeus[5][6] and
Eric Nelson's "The Hebrew Republic".[7] A Catholic contributor to the respublica Hebraeorum genre was the
JesuitGiovanni Stefano Menochio, who published his own De republica Hebraeorum in 1648.[8]
^Tuck, Richard, Philosophy and government, 1572-1651, Cambridge, 1993, p. 167
^Lea Campos Boralevi, Classical Foundational Myths of European Republicanism: The Jewish Commonwealth, in Martin van Gelderen and Quentin Skinner, Republicanism: A Shared European Heritage, Cambridge University
Press, 2002, p. 258
^Fausto Parente (2010). "Il "De Republica Hebraeorum" di Carlo Sigonio". Rivista di Storia della Filosofia. 65 (3): 423–459.
JSTOR44025857.
^Tuck, Richard, Philosophy and government, 1572-1651, Cambridge, 1993, p. 167
^Lea Campos Boralevi, Classical Foundational Myths of European Republicanism: The Jewish Commonwealth, in Martin van Gelderen and Quentin Skinner, Republicanism: A Shared European Heritage, Cambridge University
Press, 2002 , p. 258
Lea Campos Boralevi, Classical Foundational Myths of European Republicanism: The Jewish Commonwealth, in Martin van Gelderen and Quentin Skinner, Republicanism: A Shared European Heritage,
Cambridge University Press, 2002, p. 258.