Leo Strauss was a central figure in the 20th century renaissance of political philosophy. The essays of The Cambridge Companion to Leo Strauss provide a comprehensive and non-partisan survey of the major themes and problems that constituted Strauss’s work. These include his revival of the great ‘quarrel between the ancients and the moderns,’ his examination of tension between Jerusalem and Athens, and most controversially his recovery of the tradition of esoteric writing. The volume also examines Strauss’s complex relation to a range of contemporary political movements and thinkers, including Edmund Husserl, Martin Heidegger, Max Weber, Carl Schmitt, and Gershom Scholem, as well as the creation of a distinctive school of ‘Straussian’ political philosophy.

 Brings together in one volume the strongest collection of scholars to date to address Strauss’s thought, all leading specialists in the various fields in which Strauss worked  Clarifies and illuminates the thought of Strauss and places his work within the major currents of 20th century philosophy and politics  Makes use of recently published lectures and letters of Strauss’s that have not been previously available