The Test of Abraham. The Narrative Reading of Genesis 22

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.12775/BPTh.2011.003

Keywords

Abraham, Isaac, test, offering, plot, dialogue, turning point, recognition, handing down faith, substitution, ritual of passage

Abstract

The narrative reading of Genesis 22 consists in following meticulously the plot of the story and its manifold effects on its readers. At the same time it allows to answer a fundamental question which moves this story: how Abraham ought to comprehend God’s command to offer his only son as a burnt offering. The patriarch should be praised not for being ready to kill his son, but for submitting himself to the test, in which Isaac
has retrieved his own subjectivity and become able to listen directly and personally to God’s promises. In this way God will be called not only as the God of Abraham but also as the God of Isaac.

References

Brichto H. Ch., The Names of God, Oxford 1998.

Kalimi I., «Go, I Beg You, Take Your Beloved Son and Slay Him!»: Binding of Isaac in Rabbinic Literature and Thought, „Review of Rabbinic Judaism" 13 (2010), s. 1-29.

The Art of Biblical Narrative, New York 1981.

Sarna N. M., Understanding Genesis, New York 1970.

Tronina A., Księga Kapłańska, Nowy Komentarz Biblijny, Stary Testament, t. III, Częstochowa 2006.

Turner L. A., Announcements of Plot in Genesis, JSOT Suppl. 96, Sheffield 1990.

Turner L. A., Genesis, Sheffield 2000.

Watts J., Olah: The Rhetoric of Burnt Offerings, „Vetus Testamentum", LVI, 1 (2006).

Westermann C., Genesis 12-36. A Commentary, London 1986.

White H. C., Narration and Dicourse in the Book of Genesis, Cambridge 1991.

Williams M., Kant and Kierkegaard on Faith: In Service to Morality and a Leap for the Absurd, Logos, Fall (2004) 82-97.

Biblica et Patristica Thoruniensia

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Published

2011-07-16

How to Cite

1.
PAWŁOWSKI, Zdzisław. The Test of Abraham. The Narrative Reading of Genesis 22. Biblica et Patristica Thoruniensia. Online. 16 July 2011. Vol. 4, pp. 37-62. [Accessed 7 July 2025]. DOI 10.12775/BPTh.2011.003.

Issue

Vol. 4 (2011): Księga Rodzaju

Section

Biblica

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