Summary of Yoram Hazony's The Virtue of Nationalism

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview:

#1 The conflict between these two visions of world order is as old as the West itself. The idea that the political order should be based on independent nations was an important feature of ancient Israelite thought, and was revived time and again throughout Western history.

#2 The Bible was born out of a deep-seated opposition to the idea of universal empire. It promoted the idea that the members of a nation should regard one another as brothers, and that the king should be drawn from among them.

#3 The Bible puts a new political conception on the table: a state of a single nation that is united, self-governing, and uninterested in bringing its neighbors under its rule. The king is not empowered to make the laws, and he is limited in his right to tax and enslave the people.

#4 The idea of a universal empire, which would bring peace and prosperity to all nations, was proposed by the Roman Empire. But Christianity had the Hebrew Bible, with its vision of the justice of a world of independent nations, which clashed with the idea of a universal empire.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: May 18, 2022
• ISBN: 9798822518872

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Insights on Yoram Hazony's The Virtue of Nationalism

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The conflict between these two visions of world order is as old as the West itself. The idea that the political order should be based on independent nations was an important feature of ancient Israelite thought, and was revived time and again throughout Western history.

#2

The Bible was born out of a deep-seated opposition to the idea of universal empire. It promoted the idea that the members of a nation should regard one another as brothers, and that the king should be drawn from among them.

#3

The Bible puts a new political conception on the table: a state of a single nation that is united, self-governing, and uninterested in bringing its neighbors under its rule. The king is not empowered to make the laws, and he is limited in his right to tax and enslave the people.

#4

The idea of a universal empire, which would bring peace and prosperity to all nations, was proposed by the Roman Empire. But Christianity had the Hebrew Bible, with its vision of the justice of a world of independent nations, which clashed with the idea of a universal empire.

#5

When Protestantism emerged in the sixteenth century, along with the printing press and the Bible translated into the languages of the nations, it did not affect religious doctrine alone. It embraced and quickly became tied to the unique national traditions of peoples who chafed against ideas and institutions they regarded as foreign to them.

#6

The Protestant construction of the Westphalian political order gave rise to the two principles of the Moral Minimum Required for Legitimate Government and the Right of National Self-Determination.

#7

The Protestant construction allowed for different nations to have different forms of national religion, as well as varying levels of personal freedom. It also meant that