Created Equal How the Bible Broke with Ancient Political Thought

by Berman, Joshua A.

• ISBN13: 9780195374704
• ISBN10: 0195374703
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-10-13
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Joshua Berman engages the text of the Hebrew Bible from a novel perspective -- as a document of social and political thought. He proposes that the Pentateuch can be read as the earliest prescription on record for the establishment of an egalitarian polity. The blueprint that emerges is that ofa society that would stand in stark contrast to the social orders found in the surrounding cultures of the ancient Near East -- Egypt, Mesopotamia, Ugarit, and the Hittite Empire -- where the hierarchical structure of the polity was centered on the figure of the king and his retinue. Berman showsthat the Pentateuch's egalitarian ideal is articulated in comprehensive fashion and is expressed in its theology, politics, economics, use of technologies of communication, and in its narrative literature. Throughout, he invokes parallels from the modern period as heuristic devices to illuminate theancient developments under study. Thus, for example, the constitutional principles in the Book of Deuteronomy are examined in the light of principles espoused by Montesquieu, and the rise of the novel in 18th-century England serves to illuminate the advent of new modes of storytelling in biblicalnarrative.

Author Biography

Joshua Berman was raised in New York City and attended Princeton University as an undergraduate where he received his B.A. in Religion. After emigrating to Israel in 1987, he received ordination as an orthodox rabbi, and pursued doctoral studies in Bible at Bar-Ilan University. He lectures in Bible at Bar-Ilan University and at the Shalem Center in Jerusalem, where he was a research fellow during the 2004-06 academic years.

Table of Contents

List of Abbreviations	p. xiii
Introduction	p. 3
Egalitarian Theology: The Commoner's Upgrade from King's Servant to Servant King	p. 15
Egalitarian Politics: Constitution, Class, and the Book of Deuteronomy	p. 51
Egalitarianism and Assets: God the Economist	p. 81
Egalitarian Technology: Alphabet, Text, and Class	p. 109
Egalitarianism and the Evolution of Narrative: The Rescue of Moses (Exodus 2:1-10) and the Sargon Legend Compared	p. 135
Conclusion: Egalitarianisms Ancient and Modern	p. 167
Notes	p. 177
Select Bibliography	p. 223
Index of Scriptural References	p. 243
Subject Index	p. 247
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