Imitating Abraham

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.

"Spanning more than two millennia, the collection invites readers to watch Abraham traverse epochs and imaginaries with striking elasticity. One wonders what insights might have emerged had the trajectory extended into the twenty-first century, where Abraham remains potent in interfaith politics and ritual reinvention." - Society of Biblical Literature, in: RBL (2026)

• AcknowledgmentsList of Figures and TablesAbbreviationsNotes on ContributorsIntroduction: Abraham, Ritual, and ExemplificationThomas R. Blanton IV and Claudia D. BergmannPart 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 IsaiahClaudia D. Bergmann and May May Latt2 Abraham as a Model and Mediator of Worship Practices in the Genesis Apocryphon and JubileesMika S. Pajunen3 “Look toward the Heavens and Count the Stars”: Abraham the Astronomer in Second Temple and Rabbinic JudaismStephen O. Smoot4 Right Knowledge of God and the Rejection of False Religion: Abraham in Romans 1Karl-Wilhelm Niebuhr5 Abraham as Exemplum in Fourth MaccabeesJan Willem van HentenPart 2: Writings from the Early Byzantine / Sassanid Period (ca. 300s–700s CE)6 “Halakic” Abraham in the Encounter with the Three VisitorsMarcel Poorthuis7 Abraham as Ritual Model in Rabbinic Tradition: Circumcision, Prayer, and PriesthoodGünter Stemberger8 Christianizing Abraham: Exemplarity in Ambrosiaster and Ambrose of MilanClayton J. Killion9 “Arise My Beloved, and Come Away”: the Eros of Genesis 12 in a Late Antique Liturgical PoemLaura S. Lieber10 Abraham as Model in Christian Ritual: Evidence from Late Ancient and Medieval Greek and Syriac MagicMichael Zellmann-Rohrer11 Abraham as Model for Muhammad: a Survey of Some Early Christian Arabic ViewsClare E. WildePart 3: Writings from the Medieval and Modern Periods (ca. 800s–1800s CE)12 Abraham as a Model of Hospitality in the Palaea and Cognate LiteratureAlexey Somov13 “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 RitualLeon Mock14 Contradictory Readings of Genesis 22: Abraham in Wisdom of Solomon and in VoltaireChristoph Bultmann15 Abraham as Ritual Model in Kierkegaard’s Fear and TremblingGeorge PattisonIndex