Leviticus 25—Towards a Common Home and an Integral Ecology

Abstract

This article aims to show the great potential of the biblical text of the Jubilee (Lev 25:8–22) from a socio-environmental interpretation. To do so, it uses two hermeneutical keys taken from the encyclical Laudato Si’: the common home and integral ecology. As a preamble, this essay dedicates the first section to reinforcing the importance and the wisdom of the metaphor of the home—an image of creation that goes back to antiquity. In the next two sections, it reads the text from the perspective of these two great concepts. With regard to the common home, it starts from the premise that for creation to be a common home, it is necessary for each human being to enjoy a space. From there, it studies how the text of Lev 25 manages the necessary relationship between private property and the universal destination of goods. The second section addresses the need to legislate not only for behavior but for effective and comprehensive conversion. And it shows the mechanisms that the text of Lev 25 uses to achieve this.