What is it about?
The patriarch Abraham has, for at least two and a half millennia, grounded social and ritual practices and stimulated the literary imagination, as stories about him were told and retold, amplified and adapted. At least three religious traditions claim him as a forebear: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Abraham is portrayed as a role model of a multitude of “virtuous” behaviors such as offering hospitality to strangers, diligently observing times for prayer, carrying out the ritual of circumcision, and fulfilling duties toward God. Abraham’s legacy can be used in unexpected ways, too: he can be understood as a negative role model of religious fanaticism that stands contrary to all reason, and his name can be invoked in “magical” amulets to safeguard households against demons and disease, to protect livestock against the baneful effects of the evil eye, and even to assist enslavers in retrieving slaves who had temporarily escaped their domination. In short, the chapter introduces themes to be explored more fully in the pages of Imitating Abraham: Ritual and Exemplarity in Jewish and Christian Contexts.
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Why is it important?
The article in important because it offers succinct overviews of recent discussions of ritual, exemplarity and role modeling, and the biblical figure of Abraham, and shows how Abraham's legacy and example can be called upon to justify diverse and even contradictory rituals and practices, while at the same time rhetorically anchoring practices, in some cases even innovative ones, to ancient, hallowed tradition.
Perspectives
While the biblical patriarch Abraham may at first glance seem like a known quantity, the chapter shows how fascinating and unexpected the interpretations of Abraham in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam can be. We may be familiar with interpretations of Abraham as a role model of faithfulness or self-sacrifice, but Abraham as a model of religious fanaticism, or as a model for rounding up escaped slaves? The chapter combines expected and unexpected perspectives on the patriarch, while at the same time raising issues of ethical import.
Thomas R. Blanton IV
John Carroll University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Introduction: Abraham, Ritual, and Exemplification, March 2025, De Gruyter,
DOI: 10.1163/9789004722620_002.
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