Daniel J. Elazar and the Covenant Tradition in Politics

Abstract

This article assesses the ambitious four-volume study by DanielJ. Elazar on The Covenant Tradition in Politics, which was the central occupation of thefinal decade of his life. The content of the work is an examination from Hebrew antiquity to the American present of the interpenetrating of theological beliefs and political structures. The context of the work is an effort to seek linkages of the American Revolution with both Protestant reformation and scriptural revelation. In this way, Elazar converted the two great national passions of his life and career-the founding of the United States alongfederalist lines and the refounding of Israel as a modern Jewish state-into a unified vision of politics. Even if one grants the imperfection and incompleteness of Elazar's synthesis, the monumental character of the enterprise offers us one of the towering achievements of the twentieth century-one that demands the attention and respect of those working in both normative political theory and empirical religious history.