“Making Religion Modern—through Law” Response to Alexander Kaye, The Invention of Jewish Theocracy

Abstract

David Flatto asked me to provide a brief summary of the book—for those of you who have not read it. Let me say first that I read this book as someone interested in the relationship of religion and law in the modern period, particularly the phenomenology of religion under the modern rule of law. I have no expertise in Jewish law or the history of Israel. My own work has been primarily in the United States—but the project of legally managing religion in the modern state has been a global one. In this broader context, this book might be titled “Making religious law modern” or even “Making religion modern—through law.” In my view, The Invention of Jewish Theocracy: The Struggle for Legal Authority in Modern Israel very much deserves a place in this broader comparative conversation. Professor Kaye’s book is, as I take it, an effort to...