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Imitating Abraham
Ritual and Exemplarity in Jewish and Christian Contexts
Series: - Jewish and Christian Perspectives Series, Volume: 42
Imitating Abraham provides exciting glimpses into the reception history of the character Abraham in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, illuminating the manifold ways in which interpreters draw upon his legacy to authorize practices like sacrifice, circumcision, hospitality, feasting, prayer, and personal and corporate piety. Abraham holds surprises: his name is used in magical amulets—some published here for the first time—to ward off demons, protect cattle from illness, and even to round up runaway slaves. Researchers, students, and all interested in Biblical, Jewish, Christian, and Islamic Studies, as well as ritual and exemplarity will want to read this book.
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Claudia D. Bergmann is Professor for Biblical Theology and Exegesis at Paderborn University (Germany) and the author of
Festmahl ohne Ende: Apokalyptische Vorstellungen vom Speisen in der Kommenden Welt im antiken Judentum und ihre biblischen Wurzeln (Kohlhammer, 2019).
Thomas R. Blanton IV is Visiting Assistant Professor at John Carroll University. He is the author of A Spiritual Economy: Gift Exchange in the Letters of Paul of Tarsus (2017); his research examines early Christianity and ancient Mediterranean economies.
Thomas R. Blanton IV is Visiting Assistant Professor at John Carroll University. He is the author of A Spiritual Economy: Gift Exchange in the Letters of Paul of Tarsus (2017); his research examines early Christianity and ancient Mediterranean economies.
Acknowledgments
List of Figures and Tables
Abbreviations
Notes on Contributors
Introduction: Abraham, Ritual, and Exemplification
Thomas R. Blanton IV and Claudia D. Bergmann
1 “Look to Abraham and Sarah”: the Motifs of Infertility and Childbirth in Genesis and Second Isaiah
Claudia D. Bergmann and May May Latt
2 Abraham as a Model and Mediator of Worship Practices in the Genesis Apocryphon and Jubilees
Mika S. Pajunen
3 “Look toward the Heavens and Count the Stars”: Abraham the Astronomer in Second Temple and Rabbinic Judaism
Stephen O. Smoot
4 Right Knowledge of God and the Rejection of False Religion: Abraham in Romans 1
Karl-Wilhelm Niebuhr
5 Abraham as Exemplum in Fourth Maccabees
Jan Willem van Henten
6 “Halakic” Abraham in the Encounter with the Three Visitors
Marcel Poorthuis
7 Abraham as Ritual Model in Rabbinic Tradition: Circumcision, Prayer, and Priesthood
Günter Stemberger
8 Christianizing Abraham: Exemplarity in Ambrosiaster and Ambrose of Milan
Clayton J. Killion
9 “Arise My Beloved, and Come Away”: the Eros of Genesis 12 in a Late Antique Liturgical Poem
Laura S. Lieber
10 Abraham as Model in Christian Ritual: Evidence from Late Ancient and Medieval Greek and Syriac Magic
Michael Zellmann-Rohrer
11 Abraham as Model for Muhammad: a Survey of Some Early Christian Arabic Views
Clare E. Wilde
12 Abraham as a Model of Hospitality in the Palaea and Cognate Literature
Alexey Somov
13 “For I Know Him, That He Will Command His Children and His Household after Him” (Gen 18:19): Some Ideas on Abraham as a Model in Rabbinic Prayer and Ritual
Leon Mock
14 Contradictory Readings of Genesis 22: Abraham in Wisdom of Solomon and in Voltaire
Christoph Bultmann
15 Abraham as Ritual Model in Kierkegaard’s Fear and Trembling
George Pattison
Index
List of Figures and Tables
Abbreviations
Notes on Contributors
Introduction: Abraham, Ritual, and Exemplification
Thomas R. Blanton IV and Claudia D. Bergmann
Part 1: Writings from the Neo-Babylonian, Persian, Hellenistic, and Roman Periods (ca. 600s BCE–100s CE)
1 “Look to Abraham and Sarah”: the Motifs of Infertility and Childbirth in Genesis and Second Isaiah
Claudia D. Bergmann and May May Latt
2 Abraham as a Model and Mediator of Worship Practices in the Genesis Apocryphon and Jubilees
Mika S. Pajunen
3 “Look toward the Heavens and Count the Stars”: Abraham the Astronomer in Second Temple and Rabbinic Judaism
Stephen O. Smoot
4 Right Knowledge of God and the Rejection of False Religion: Abraham in Romans 1
Karl-Wilhelm Niebuhr
5 Abraham as Exemplum in Fourth Maccabees
Jan Willem van Henten
Part 2: Writings from the Early Byzantine / Sassanid Period (ca. 300s–700s CE)
6 “Halakic” Abraham in the Encounter with the Three Visitors
Marcel Poorthuis
7 Abraham as Ritual Model in Rabbinic Tradition: Circumcision, Prayer, and Priesthood
Günter Stemberger
8 Christianizing Abraham: Exemplarity in Ambrosiaster and Ambrose of Milan
Clayton J. Killion
9 “Arise My Beloved, and Come Away”: the Eros of Genesis 12 in a Late Antique Liturgical Poem
Laura S. Lieber
10 Abraham as Model in Christian Ritual: Evidence from Late Ancient and Medieval Greek and Syriac Magic
Michael Zellmann-Rohrer
11 Abraham as Model for Muhammad: a Survey of Some Early Christian Arabic Views
Clare E. Wilde
Part 3: Writings from the Medieval and Modern Periods (ca. 800s–1800s CE)
12 Abraham as a Model of Hospitality in the Palaea and Cognate Literature
Alexey Somov
13 “For I Know Him, That He Will Command His Children and His Household after Him” (Gen 18:19): Some Ideas on Abraham as a Model in Rabbinic Prayer and Ritual
Leon Mock
14 Contradictory Readings of Genesis 22: Abraham in Wisdom of Solomon and in Voltaire
Christoph Bultmann
15 Abraham as Ritual Model in Kierkegaard’s Fear and Trembling
George Pattison
Index
Researchers, students, and all those interested in Biblical, Jewish, Christian, and Islamic Studies, as well as History of Religions, Ritual Studies, and exemplarity will benefit from this book.