TY  - BOOK
AU  - Jonathan Grossman
PY  - 2016
CY  - Lausanne, Switzerland
PB  - Peter Lang Verlag
SN  - 1662-1689
SN  - 9783035109191
TI  - Abram to Abraham
T2  - A Literary Analysis of the Abraham Narrative
DO  - 10.3726/978-3-0351-0919-1
UR  - https://www.peterlang.com/document/1053525
N2  - 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.
KW  - Abraham, Genesis, Synchronic approach, Bible as literature, Concentric structure
LA  - English
ER  -