In my undergraduate course on power, I start off with passages from the Bible. I think reading the Bible's presentation of power critically is important for students of international relations for a couple of reasons. First of all, the Bible shapes Western thought. Thomas Hobbes read the Bible. When he titled his book, Leviathan, he knew what the leviathan was in Scripture. To understand his and other Western philosophers' starting point, you have to understand the Bible. Second, it is naive to think that the biblical understandings of power (e.g., power as a manifestation of God's will) do not matter in our modern (or postmodern) world. Religious faith motivates an awful lot of political behavior. We would be stupid to forget to analyze it.
So, I have the unusual syllabus that treats the Bible as a source of theory about power. Over the years, I've honed in on a few favorite passages to highlight the particular themes that interest me: the power of words (Balaam and Balak, curses and blessings), the role of leadership (Joshua taking the reins of power), brute -- and brutish -- force (Samson), and the power of women (Deborah, and also in the stories of Rahab and Yael).
It did not occur to me that I would be assigning my students to read the passages from Judges that tell Deborah's story right before Shabbat Shirah, when we'll be reading those very passages in synagogue. Divine inspiration?? I don't think God micro-manages syllabi. A nice coincidence in a stochastic universe.
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