Moses and early modern political philosophy

Abstract

The rise of biblical hermeneutics alone cannot explain the singular position of the figure of Moses in early modern political philosophy. The use of Moses by prominent thinkers such as Machiavelli, Grotius, Hobbes, Spinoza and Locke does not accord with the figure of Moses as presented in the Bible. I argue in this thesis that the political Moses can only be understood by examining alternative, non-Biblical sources. I demonstrate that an ancient extra-biblical portrayal of an overtly political Moses, one that culminates in the writings of Josephus, best explains the return to Moses that we find in early modern political philosophy.

Date of Award	2021
Original language	English