**3. Nation, Faith and Family: The Programmatic Triad**

*3.1. No Political Theory without the Hebrew Bible*

Hazony's understanding of political theory is deeply rooted in religious thought. It distinguishes two levels of political philosophy (Hazony 2018, pp. 58–60). Philosophy of Government presupposes the state as a self-evident anthropological constant, but discusses how it should actually look, and which form of government would be the best. Philosophy of Political Order, in contrast, is interested in deeper anthropological questions and wants to know how people become organized in the first place. How and why do individuals join, and are there alternatives to the state as a form of socio-political organization?

For Hazony, there can be no reflection on the appropriate form of government without a prior examination of the foundations of human order, i.e., no Philosophy of Government without Philosophy of the Political Order. However, where do the foundations of this Philosophy of the Political Order come from? It is the Hebrew Bible as an unequivocal political book, which in the end demands nationalism.

Already in 2006, Hazony states in an essay that the Hebrew Bible, especially in its "central historical narrative" from Genesis to the Books of Kings, offers a self-contained political theory: "[ ... ] the central historical narrative of the Hebrew Bible (beginning in Genesis and ending with the book of Kings) was composed with an eye to advancing a consistent political theory. The biblical narrative issues biting criticism of both the imperial state familiar to the ancient Near East; and of its opposite, political anarchy. In place of these, the Bible advocates a new and intermediate form of political association: the unification of all Israel under a limited state, to be ruled by an Israelite 'whose heart is not lifted above his brothers.'" (Hazony 2006, p. 137).

Martin Yaffe (2021, p. 11) perfectly sums up: "Hazony looks to the Hebrew Bible as a guiding precedent for modern (including Israeli) nationalism." What is the biblical author's goal in this regard? It is "to provide an account of why the Israelite state rose and why it declined". (Hazony 2006, p. 139). For Hazony, the Hebrew Bible in its narrative core provides the model for anti-imperialist nationalism. It offers the foundations of natural law, without which any form of human coexistence is lost. Yaffe (2021, p. 12) summarizes: "Hazony acknowledges as much by asserting that the Bible teaches 'natural law' or 'laws of nature' (he elides the two) as its 'political philosophy'". This law is the background for any legitimate order, starting with the family and resulting in the nation.

#### *3.2. Family*

Framing "family" as the basic political unit is deeply rooted in political philosophy. In particular, Aristotle outlined the parallel structure between the oikos (house) and the polis (city). However, one has to be aware that the ancient concept of a "house", both in Greek political philosophy and the Hebrew Scripture, was far beyond the modern idea of a nuclear family. Klauck (2020, pp. 379–82) highlights the focus of ancient political philosophy on the authoritarian role of the head of the house (or Roman *pater familias*) and the increasing importance of the house within Jewish life as the basic unit of socio-religious life, particularly in times of hardship and oppression.

Hazony (2018, p. 66) takes up the idea of the family as the basic socio-political unit, defining it as the "strongest and most resilient of all small institutions known to human politics", but gives it a specific turn. Family is the nuclear family, structured analogously to a military unit led by a junior officer or sergeant. It is a strictly patriarchal organization where the heads of the family form a clan, whose heads form a tribe, while the heads of the tribe form the nation. The cohesion of each level is shaped by a common fight against external dangers, shared suffering and shared success. Families are "little fortresses to shelter its own special inheritance, its own treasured culture, in a garden in which it can flourish unmolested". (Hazony 2018, p. 75)8

The common struggle creates "mutual loyalty", the strongest political force (see Hazony 2018, pp. 66, 69). This is a recurring key term in Hazony's work (see Yaffe 2021, p. 11), but also for National Conservativism in general. Loyalty has to be grown and maintained at each level, starting from the family 9.

Taking Hazony's theory seriously, there can be no functioning political community without the hierarchically structured nuclear family. This family is bound by absolute mutual loyalty, rooted in a common fight against external enemies. As I shall point out later, the focus on antagonism as the origin of the political clearly draws inspiration from Carl Schmitt's concept of the political, but this affinity with the contested "father of political theology" is not openly visible 10. The basic task is to strengthen and protect the collective, namely "health and prosperity", of the family, on three levels (Hazony 2018, p. 71). First of all, the physical and material well-being of the family has to be ensured. This means, above all, the bearing and nursing of children. Family means reproduction. Second, the internal integrity of the family has to be guaranteed, i.e., the cohesion of the family based on respect for its hierarchical structures (age and status) and harmonious conflict resolution. Finally, the cultural heritage must be transmitted to the next generation. Similar to a fractal hierarchy, each following unit—clan, tribe and nation—has to care for its well-being, integrity and the transmission of heritage.
