How the Hebrew Bible’s Revolutionary Political Wisdom Shaped the Modern World

In the books of Exodus and Deuteronomy, God makes His covenant not with particular individuals, but with the Jewish people as a collective whole. Joshua Berman sees this as evidence that religion cannot be properly understood or experienced as an entirely individual affair, but only in the context of community and social relationships. Thus, explains Berman in conversation with Ari Lamm, religion—even in a liberal, pluralistic society—must not be confined to the private sphere, but should instead inform public and political life, as indeed it has in the American republic. (Audio, 56 minutes.)