Debt and the Jubilee. Pacing the Economy
Supplément
no 1
in memoriam Paul Bairoch,
Jean-Michel Bonvin (ed.), December 1999
The closest definition of the Jubilee year is given in Chapter 25 of Leviticus: ‘ Ye shall … proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof … Ye shall return every man unto his possession … A Jubilee shall that fiftieth year be unto you : ye shall not sow, neither reap that which groweth of itself in it, nor gather the grapes in it of thy vine undressed’ (Lev. 25, 10-11)
The Jubilee thus introduces a salutary break into economic logic and creates room for a different rhythm which takes fuller account of man’s manifold dimensions. In a society which is obsessed with the notion of profitability, the Jubilee represents the time of man and the time of God. In this sense, it throws down a challenge which our age, like every other age, must take up. The Jubilee is essentially pragmatic in nature; it does not seek to deny reality, especially economic reality, but endeavours to bring it more into line with God’s own plan. This gives it a force of inspiration with which it can mobilise followers of every religious tradition and every current of thinking that aims to promote social justice.
The Jerusalem symposium on ‘The Jubilee and its Economic and Social Implications’ was organised in this spirit and gave rise to fruitful exchanges of views between philosophers, sociologists, theologians, historians and economists from both Jewish and Christian backgrounds. This book contains a summary of the symposium papers.
Contents
Introduction by Jean-Michel Bonvin
1. The Jubilee, Social Justice and
Economics
Contributions by Jacob Milgrom, Edouard Dommen, Jacob Rosenberg and Avi
Weiss, Paul H. Dembinski and Ernesto Rossi.
2. The Jubilee in Religious Traditions
Contributions by Jean-Marie Thiveaud, Raphael Jospe, Yehuda Don, Patrick
de Laubier and Manfred Spieker.
3. The Jubilee : A Challenge for All
Time
Contributions by Jean-Marie Meyer, Jean Halpérin, Jean-Claude Lavigne,
Benjamin Ish-Shalom and Martin Dent.
