The Law of God

The law of God: these words conjure an image of Moses breaking the tablets at Mount Sinai, but the history of the alliance between law and divinity is so much longer, and its scope so much broader, than a single Judeo-Christian scene can possibly suggest. In his stunningly ambitious new history, Remi Brague goes back three thousand years to trace this idea of divine law in the West from prehistoric religions to modern timesgiving new depth to today's discussions about the role of God in worldly affairs. Bringing to the work his characteristic brilliance and clarity of thought, Brague explains how divine law, which served in ancient Greece as a metaphor for natural law, was seen in ancient Israel as divine revelation. Later, in the Middle Ages, it took on new sacred meanings: within Judaism, it represented the sole presence of God among a people deprived of a temple and kingdom. For Islam, it served as direct dictation from God that came to rule all human practices. Christianity, meanwhile, conceived a relationship to God that went beyond legislation, turning away from the idea of revealed law and toward the Greek notion of law that was divinebecauseit was natural. Masterfully illuminating these ideas with a wide range of philosophical, political, and religious sources, Brague's history concludes by addressing the recent break in the alliance between law and divinitywhen modern societies, far from connecting the two, started to think of law simply as the rule human community gives itself. Exploring what this disconnection means for the contemporary world, Braguepowerfully expanding on the project he began withThe Wisdom of the Worldre-engages readers in a millennia-long intellectual tradition, ultimately arriving at a better comprehension of our own modernity.

Rémi Brague is professor of philosophy at the Université de Paris I–Sorbonne and at the University of Munich. He is the author of five previous books, including The Wisdom of the World, also published by the University of Chicago Press, and Eccentric Culture.