I greatly enjoyed Created Equal as many others will too. The reason is simple: This book opened new worlds in its rewarding and creative exploration of the political ideas presented in the Pentateuch in the ancient Jewish Scriptures. The author's message, delivered in a rich and multifaceted argument, is that the Pentateuch is infused with a spirit of egalitarianism that was radical in comparison both with ancient Greek political and social thought and with that of other earlier Middle Eastern civilizations.

Joshua Berman makes his case in prose that is concise, accessible, and unburdened by needless or pretentious jargon. It is also an argument book, as the author knows and admits. Its aura is not, however, acidic or dogmatic, and it almost invites dialogue even as it is not timid in making its case. It is also very nicely organized.

Berman takes his readers across considerable territory. He argues, first and perhaps most essentially, that the ancient Jewish Scriptures' covenant theology sets up a framework that concentrates on reciprocity rather than the more common — in that time and region — rigid hierarchy between the divine and human. Covenant theology of the Pentateuch, he suggests, created a paradigm that was hardly a one-sided or passive affair for the ancient Jews. It was meant as a living, active covenant, involving an ongoing and sometimes tempestuous dialogue from both sides.

Of course this covenant theology was not a strictly egalitarian theology either, but the egalitarianism Berman perceives is never meant literally. Berman carefully observes that he is not really addressing the practice of the ancient Jews. Moreover, in the theological ideas of their Scriptures what Berman wants us to see are the egalitarian tendencies, not some strict definition of egalitarianism, whatever that might mean. He brings this reasonable distinction to bear when Berman observes evidences of egalitarian politics in the Scriptures' discussion of what was eventually the monarchy-ruled kingdom. While there was a king, as Berman notes, he is not described as divine nor imposed by God; there were judges but they were limited; there were priests and they too had their boundaries; there were, of course, also prophets, but they found they too had no free reign; altogether the Scriptures envision a kind of separation of powers, Berman proposes, that suggested a degree of egalitarianism so different the from theory (and practice) in despotic neighboring kingdoms.

A more difficult, but at least as interesting an argument, is Berman's exploration of the Pentateuch's egalitarian vision of the proper aspects for property and general economic life. These arrangements were to be communal in the sense that all (men) were to have land and be economically secure in it. They also were able to gain relief from ruinous debt. The goal was not equality in wealth or income, but a spirit of egalitarianism in communal economic inclusiveness and protection.

Other examples of Berman's case for egalitarianism abound, but one more deserves special mention. It illustrates yet another welcome dimension of Berman: his intellectual reach and considerable interest in many parts of this long-gone world. In this instance, Berman addresses the evidence for egalitarianism in what he terms “narrative,” that is the very Pentateuch text and its openness to the people. He notes how much the biblical stories are designed for all the people and how much in the end they tell a tale of a people charged with carrying out God's will by their own choices and actions. They are not to be mere passive agents of the divine. Far from it. In this account, Berman makes a telling comparison with what he contends was the reality in other civilizations such as ancient Egypt or Mesopotamia where sacred texts were only for the royal elite. This is a bold part of the book, interesting and challenging, and like the rest of Created Equal well worth readers' time.

Since this is openly a book of argument, it is only to be expected and hoped that it will stimulate plenty of fruitful discussion and debate. Such a successful work as this deserves no less. There will be those who are skeptical of claims of egalitarianism, however qualified, in these sacred books that also incorporate slavery, a distinctly subordinate position for women, and far from equal resident aliens. Others may wonder about the relevance of Yahweh's selection of the Jews as a chosen people. Still others may heartily agree with Berman that classical Greek political and social thought is no harbor for egalitarianism, yet wonder if the Christian egalitarianism of Jesus and Paul is not more sweeping than Berman suggests and much more so than either ancient Greek or Jewish thought.

This is a welcome book, one that calls us to think seriously about the political ideas of central Jewish Scriptures; to compare them and their political implications with that of other and often very different ancient lands; and, another intriguing aspect of Berman's discussions, to think about the ways in which modern Western thought is both similar to and different from that of the ancient Jews. I loved the intellectual vigor of this book's argument and I appreciated the book from start to finish. It is easy to recommend Joshua Berman's Created Equal enthusiastically.