Abram to Abraham: A Literary Analysis of the Abraham Narrative

Abram to Abraham: A Literary Analysis of the Abraham Narrative

Author
Jonathan Grossman
Publisher
Peter Lang
Language
English
Year
2016
Page
570
ISBN
9783035109191,9783034320771,3035109192
File Type
epub
File Size
1.5 MiB

Abram to Abraham explores the Abraham saga (11: 27-22: 24) through a literary lens, following the legendary figure of Abraham as he navigates the arduous odyssey to nationhood. Rather than overlook the textual discrepancies, repetitions and contradictions long noted by diachronic scholars, this study tackles them directly, demonstrating how many problems of the ancient text in fact hold the key to deeper understanding of the narrative and its objectives. Therefore, the book frequently notes the classic division of the text according to primary sources, but offers an alternative, more harmonious reading based on the assumption that the narrative forms a single, intentionally designed unit.
The narrative's artistic design is especially evident in its arrangement of the two halves of the story around the protagonists' change of name. The stories of Abram and Sarai in the first half of the cycle (11: 27-16: 16) are parallel to the stories of Abraham and Sarah in the second half (18: 1-22: 24). A close reading of this transformation in the biblical narrative illuminates the moral and theological values championed by the figure of Abraham as luminary, soldier, family man, and loyal subject of God.

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