Skip to content

Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs (JCFA)

Strategic Alliances for a Secure, Connected, and Prosperous Region
Menu

Spirituality

Power and Spirituality in the Thought of Hans J. Morgenthau

Power and Spirituality in the Thought of Hans J. Morgenthau

April 20, 1998
Hans J. Morgenthau's legacy has been undergoing a scholarly reevaluation. From an earlier perception of Morgenthau as a one-dimensional advocate of pure realpolitik, more recent scholarly literature has been emphasizing significant transcendent themes in Morgenthau's thought, that reflect his concerns relating to the importance of morality in state craft, man's philosophic quest, and even spirituality. Drawing on his teaching, unpublished works, and lesser known published works, this work contends that Morgenthau had significant spiritual concerns that under lined his assumptions about man's behavior in the political realm, upon which his understanding of international behavior was ultimately based.