The idea of nationalism has dramatically returned to the center of American and world politics. But what does nationalism have to do with conservatism? And can a nationalist make room in his worldview for God? Jews have a great stake in these questions—and much to contribute. The Jewish Bible is the fountainhead for our ideas of the national state, God, and Anglo-American conservatism. Bringing these biblical ideals together in a way that is relevant to modern citizens and modern nations may be the most pressing challenge of our era.

Yoram Hazony

Yoram Hazony is an Israeli philosopher, Bible scholar and political theorist. He is president of the Herzl Institute in Jerusalem, chairman of the Edmund Burke Foundation. and the founder and former head of the Shalem Center in Jerusalem, a research institute that conducted nearly two decades of pioneering work in the fields of philosophy, political theory, Bible, Talmud, Jewish and Zionist history, Middle East Studies and archaeology. He is also the director of the John Templeton Foundation’s project in Jewish Philosophical Theology. Dr. Hazony researches and writes in the fields of philosophy and theology, political theory and intellectual history. His latest is Conservatism: A Rediscovery, and his previous book The Virtue of Nationalism, won the Intercollegiate Studies Institute’s Conservative Book of the Year Award in 2019. His other books include The Philosophy of Hebrew Scripture, God and Politics in Esther, and The Jewish State: The Struggle for Israel’s Soul. His articles and essays have appeared in publications such as the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Commentary, and the New Republic, among others. He obtained his doctorate in Political Theory at Rutgers University, and was the first editor of Princeton’s conservative undergraduate student journal. He lives in Jerusalem with his wife Yael Hazony. They have nine children.