Jonathan Yudelman is a Senior Fellow at the Herzl Institute and a PhD candidate in Political Science at Boston College. He holds a BA in Jewish Thought, and an MA in Philosophy, both from the Hebrew University. His dissertation critically examines the early modern roots of liberalism and the idea of progress, and proposes a new account of the development of modern political thought leading up to its current crisis. He is a fellow at the Abigail Adams Institute in Cambridge, MA, and at the Clough Center for the Study of Constitutional Democracy, as well as a former fellow at the Tikvah Fund. His writing on culture, politics and religion has been widely published.
At the Herzl Institute, Jonathan is preparing for publication the first ever English translation of “The Law of Nature and of Nations, according to the Teachings of the Hebrews,” the 17th century Latin master-work of the great English political thinker, John Selden. The work offers an detailed exposition and discussion of the Jewish tradition of the “Noahide laws,” and the Jewish understanding of natural law. On the basis his exposition, Selden proposes a political and legal theory favorable to the traditions of English liberty and common law, and in opposition to his contemporary, Thomas Hobbes.
