The Jewish national revival of our times has stimulated scholarly interest in the historical origins and manifestations of Jewry's distinctive traditions of constitutional thought and political action. This study is a contribution to that enquiry. Focusing on the structures of communal rule forged during the first five centuries of the common era, the book presents an analysis of the processes whereby the rabbis and their disciples replaced both priests and civic rulers as foci of political royalty and instruments of domestic government throughout the Jewish world. Cohen argues that much of Jewish political history during the age of the Mishnah and Talmud can be read as a record of the attempt to reinterpret the ancient concept of the three crowns (or clusters of rulership which determined Jewish public behaviour) and adapt it to rabbinic purposes.
Reviews
"This book is a bold and creative inquiry into the history of rabbinic Judaism." Shofar "Professor Cohen sheds much light on one of the central concepts of the Jewish political tradition--shloshet ha'ketarim--the three crowns of government... The Three Crowns deserves the widest audience possible as a model of incisive, well-argued, and interesting scholarship." Judaica Book News
