Created equal
Subtitle: how the Bible broke with ancient political thought
By: Joshua A. Berman.
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2008
Place of publication: New York, N.Y
Language: eng
Number of pages: 249
ISBN-13: 9780195374704
Subjects: Bible. -- O.T. -- Pentateuch -- Criticism, interpretation, etc; Equality -- Biblical teaching; Jews -- Politics and government -- To 70 A.D; Jews -- Social conditions
Description: "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 of a 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 shows that 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 the ancient 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 biblical narrative."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.