Like Spinoza in his Theological-Political Treatise, Schweid helps us
grasp the potential for seeing radically new messages in this oldest of
books, the Bible. The American Founding Fathers realized that the Bible
offers strong support for the doctrine of popular sovereignty. Socially,
it offers a message of egalitarianism, especially in the provisions of
the Jubilee. It is hardly an accident that two modern political
movements found mottos ready at hand from the 25th chapter of Leviticus:
"Proclaim liberty throughout the land unto all the inhabitants thereof"
(engraved on the Liberty Bell), and "The land shall not be sold in
perpetuity" (motto of the Jewish National Fund). Schweid helps us to
appreciate the broader message of the narrative of creation and
settlement of the land in its ecumenical and planetary dimensions. The
world is God's creation, and its resources are to be deployed as
necessary for the sustenance and need-fulfillment of all peoples and all
creatures equally--a message very much relevant to the ecological crisis
facing us all at the present time.