A Civil Society with No Hierarchy

Ilie Badescu; Joseph Livni

doi:10.5771/9781666903713

Summary

Ilie Bădescu and Joseph Livni follow the footsteps of two giants who pioneered the field: H. H. Stahl of Romania, who studied the sociology of communal societies, and D. J. Elazar of the United States, who studied the political science of covenantal societies. This collection sheds light on obscure corners of the field, gathering up thoughts and concepts of many other sources of past and contemporary research in the field. In this volume, the reader will find answers to difficult questions like: How did acephalous societies penetrate civilization? How did they manage to preserve their egalitarian ethos? Why did powerful hierarchies work in partnership with them? And, most importantly, how did covenantal societies work around the constraints of a civilized reality? The history of civilization consists of various degrees of stratified configurations ranging from oligarchic city states to powerful pyramidal empires.

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Bibliographic data

Copyright year: 2023
ISBN-Print: 978-1-6669-0370-6
ISBN-Online: 978-1-6669-0371-3
Publisher: Lexington, Lanham
Language: English
Pages: 342
Product type: Edited Book

1. Contents No access
1. Opposition to Hierarchy No access
2. Covenant No access
3. Federative Network No access
4. Justice Administration No access
5. Assembly Government No access
6. Elders No access
7. Covenant and Constitutionalism No access
8. Covenantal Failures No access
9. Covenant, Living Law, and Jurisprudence No access
10. Notes No access
11. References No access
1. Nomadism No access
2. Interdisciplinary Approach No access
3. Innovations No access
4. Social Models No access
5. Complexity No access
6. Sedentarization No access
7. 1. Sedentarization of Nomads or a Separation from Canaanite Culture No access
8. 1. Covenant No access
9. Federative Network No access
10. Justice Administration No access
11. Assembly Government No access
12. Transition to Monarchy No access
13. Conclusion No access
14. Notes No access
15. References No access
1. Historical Background No access
2. 1. The System of Government in The Roman Empire No access
  2. The Autonomous Government Power structure of Jewish Society No access
3. The Rural Community No access
4. The Fourth Tier: The Sages No access
5. The Relationship between the Patriarch and the Sages No access
6. Discussion No access
7. Notes No access
8. References No access
1. Opposition to Hierarchy No access
2. Covenant No access
3. Federative Network No access
4. Justice Administration No access
5. Assembly Government No access
6. Office Holders No access
7. 1. Synagogue No access
  2. Rabbi No access
  3. Other Community Institutions No access
8. Resilience of Jewish Communities No access
9. Conclusion No access
10. Notes No access
11. References No access
1. 1. Covenantal or Contractual Society? No access
2. 1. From Communal Culture to the “Dual System”: Fundamentals of H. H. Stahl’s Sociology of Communal Societies No access
3. Free Village and Communal Society No access
4. Communalism versus Statehood: How to Reconcile Them? No access
5. Communalist Culture and Emerging Inequality No access
6. From Communal Society to State-Society No access
7. Village Boundary as the Grid of Communal Landscape Culture No access
8. Cultural Communitarianism and Historical Change No access
9. The “Novel of Sol” and X-factor of Communalist Mind No access
10. Notes No access
11. References No access
1. 1. Covenant as a Society: Durkheim—“Don’t forget I am the son of a rabbi”1 No access
  2. Covenant as a Prophetic Power No access
  3. Covenant as an Ethical Community No access
2. 1. Re-actualizing the Sinai Covenant in Postexilic Times No access
  2. God and Its Covenanted People No access
3. Covenantal Community: Covenant as a Political Force No access
4. Noological Community: Covenant as Lived-Community No access
5. 1. Two Ideal Types of Sociological Understanding No access
6. Covenantal Community No access
7. Covenantal Type-like Society No access
8. Perspectives No access
9. Notes No access
10. References No access
1. Brief Theoretical Perspective on Traditional Society No access
2. The Social System in Romanian Traditional Society: An Overview No access
3. The Family System No access
4. Educational System in the Traditional Society No access
5. The Social Control in Romanian Traditional Society No access
6. Short Insight into the Interactions between the State and the Traditional Society No access
7. Conclusive Remarks No access
8. Notes No access
9. References No access
1. The First Epoch: The Divine Covenant No access
2. The Second Epoch: The Social Compact No access
3. The Third Epoch: Contractual Constitutionalism No access
4. Conclusion No access
5. Notes No access
6. References No access
1. A City upon a Hill No access
2. The Perfect Storm No access
3. The Woes of Samuel Parris No access
4. Under an Evil Hand No access
5. Stoking the Fire No access
6. The Spectral Evidence Dilemma No access
7. The Trials Begin No access
8. Neighbors Speak Out No access
9. Affliction Spreads Like Fire No access
10. The Third Hanging Day No access
11. The Apex No access
12. The Minister’s Protest No access
13. The Aftermath No access
14. The Covenant under Attack No access
15. Notes No access
16. References No access
1. The Development of the Hierarchy and Its Governance Power No access
2. The Catholic Hierarchy Responds to Clerical Sexual Abuse No access
3. Pope Francis, Theology, and Clerical Sexual Abuse No access
4. Analysis No access
5. Notes No access
6. References No access
Index No access Pages 321 - 338
About the Contributors No access Pages 339 - 342