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Author: Peter Heinegg
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Published: 2013
Total Pages: 122
ISBN-13: 0761859659
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →In Abraham's Ashes, Peter Heinegg uncovers the truth behind the bizarre, contradictory, and oppressive fantasy known as monotheism. He offers a forceful critique of the biblical and Qur'anic views of Abraham, showing how at the heart of all prophetic religions lies an untenabl...
Author: Peter Heinegg
Publisher: University Press of America
Published: 2012-12-16
Total Pages: 122
ISBN-13: 0761859667
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →“Abrahamic religion” has long been a buzzword in ecumenical discourse. It is the notion that Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, despite their profound differences, are united in their reverence for Abraham—not just as the progenitor of Israel, but as a universal father in the faith. Abraham’s Ashes offers a forceful critique of the biblical and Qur’anic views of Abraham, showing how at the heart of all prophetic religions lies an untenable myth of suprarational magical thinking about “revelation.” This myth involves communiqués to a privileged male from a mysterious patriarchal God who demands, and in the case of Jesus, actually receives the tribute of human sacrifice. This cruel story proves to be an apt introduction to the bizarre, contradictory, and oppressive fantasy known as monotheism.
Author: J. Richard Middleton
Publisher: Baker Academic
Published: 2021-11-16
Total Pages: 272
ISBN-13: 1493430882
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →It is traditional to think we should praise Abraham for his willingness to sacrifice his son as proof of his love for God. But have we misread the point of the story? Is it possible that a careful reading of Genesis 22 could reveal that God was not pleased with Abraham's silent obedience? Widely respected biblical theologian, creative thinker, and public speaker J. Richard Middleton suggests we have misread and misapplied the story of the binding of Isaac and shows that God desires something other than silent obedience in difficult times. Middleton focuses on the ethical and theological problem of Abraham's silence and explores the rich biblical tradition of vigorous prayer, including the lament psalms, as a resource for faith. Middleton also examines the book of Job in terms of God validating Job's lament as "right speech," showing how the vocal Job provides an alternative to the silent Abraham. This book provides a fresh interpretation of Genesis 22 and reinforces the church's resurgent interest in lament as an appropriate response to God.
Author: Wyschogrod
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
Published: 2004-09
Total Pages: 272
ISBN-13: 9780802813558
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Abraham's Promise presents a selection of important writings by noted Jewish philosopher-theologian Michael Wyschogrod, who is widely admired for his singular contributions to Jewish- Christian relations. Including several pieces never published before, this reader aptly captures the broad scope of Wyschogrod's work on Judaism and the Jewish-Christian encounter, collecting seminal essays, articles, and reviews that address such topics as the God of Abraham and the God of philosophy, sin and atonement, Judaism and the land, the Six Day War, Paul on Jews and Gentiles, and the theology of Karl Barth. An introductory essay by editor R. Kendall Soulen sets Wyschogrod's career and writings in context.
Author: William J. Abraham
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
Published: 2017
Total Pages: 127
ISBN-13: 0802875289
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →How can we hold fast to the hope of life eternal when we lose someone we love? In this book William Abraham reflects on the nature of certainty and the logic of hope in the context of an experience of devastating grief. Abraham opens with a stark account of the effects of grief in his own life after the unexpected death of his oldest son. Drawing on the book of Job, Abraham then looks at the significance of grief in debates about the problem of evil. He probes what Christianity teaches about life after death and ultimately relates our experiences of grief to the death of Christ. Profound and beautiful, Among the Ashes tackles the philosophical and theological questions surrounding loss even as it honors the experience of grief.
Author: Richard Harries
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2006-03-30
Total Pages: 353
ISBN-13: 0567535312
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Abraham's Children brings together essays by leading scholars of each faith to address key issues for the faiths and to collaboratively identify common ground and pose challenges for the future. The book will inspire readers in the process of inter-faith dialogue, contribute clearly to vital religious issues of contemporary world concern and help readers to understand faiths that are different from their own.
Author: Judith Civan
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
Published: 2004-03-24
Total Pages: 352
ISBN-13: 1469105063
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Please visit the author's website at Abrahamsknife.com Christians may take the idea of deicide for granted but to Jews it is a bizarre notion, especially when it is turned against them, becoming the accusation of "You killed Christ" and setting in motion the antisemitic acts of the last two thousand years of history. Over and over again, Jews ask, "Why do they hate us?" and protest their innocence and their standing as good citizens of their societies. With a background as a student of literature and a journalist, Judith Civan set out to explain first for her own understanding and then for others who are similarly bewildered, the origin and meaning of the deicide charge, the least rational and most powerful of the various ingredients of antisemitism. Where did this idea originate and how could it have played such an important role in Western culture and history over some two millenia? Drawing upon biblical scholarship and the work of historians of subsequent periods, Civan has attempted a literary analysis of the figures of Abraham, Isaac, Jesus, Judas, and Shylock which might make some sense of this persistent and pernicious myth. Though weakened by the reforms of Vatican II, the deicide myth has not been disposed of and it is still vitally important to try to understand it. It is important not only for the safety of Jews who only recently suffered the devastation of the Holocaust, but also for the health and moral integrity of Western culture. Civan concludes that the accusation of deicide is so virulent because it is not so much about the killing of God as it is about the sacrifice of children, about parental love, ambivalence and guilt, and the human sense of vulnerability.
Author: Carol Delaney
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: 2020-09-01
Total Pages: 349
ISBN-13: 0691217947
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Abraham on Trial questions the foundations of faith that have made a virtue out of the willingness to sacrifice a child. Through his desire to obey God at all costs, even if it meant sacrificing his son, Abraham became the definitive model of faith for the major world religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In this bold look at the legacy of this biblical and qur'anic story, Carol Delaney explores how the sacrifice rather than the protection of children became the focus of faith, to the point where the abuse and betrayal of children has today become widespread and sometimes institutionalized. Her strikingly original analysis also offers a new perspective on what unites and divides the peoples of the sibling religions derived from Abraham and, implicitly, a way to overcome the increasing violence among them. Delaney critically examines evidence from Jewish, Christian, and Muslim interpretations, from archaeology and Freudian theory, as well as a recent trial in which a father sacrificed his child in obedience to God's voice, and shows how the meaning of Abraham's story is bound up with a specific notion of fatherhood. The preeminence of the father (which is part of the meaning of the name Abraham) comes from the still operative theory of procreation in which men transmit life by means of their "seed," an image that encapsulates the generative, creative power that symbolically allies men with God. The communities of faith argue interminably about who is the true seed of Abraham, who can claim the patrimony, but until now, no one has asked what is this seed. Kinship and origin myths, the cultural construction of fatherhood and motherhood, suspicions of actual child sacrifices in ancient times, and a revisiting of Freud's Oedipus complex all contribute to Delaney's remarkably rich discussion. She shows how the story of Abraham legitimates a hierarchical structure of authority, a specific form of family, definitions of gender, and the value of obedience that have become the bedrock of society. The question she leaves us with is whether we should perpetuate this story and the lessons it teaches.
Author: Karl W. Giberson
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2016-04-18
Total Pages: 368
ISBN-13: 0190277173
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Most of us believe everything happens for a reason. Whether it is "God's will","karma", or "fate," we want to believe that nothing in the world, especially disasters and tragedies, is a random, meaningless event. But now, as never before, confident scientific assertions that the world embodies a profound contingency are challenging theological claims that God acts providentially in the world. The random and meandering path of evolution is widely used as an argument that God did not create life. Abraham's Dice explores the interplay between chance and providence in the monotheistic religious traditions, looking at how their interaction has been conceptualized as our understanding of the workings of nature has changed. This lively historical conversation has generated intense ongoing theological debates, and provocative responses from science: what are we to make of the history of our universe, where chance and law have played out in complex ways? Or the evolution of life, where random mutations have challenged attempts to find purpose within evolution and convinced many that human beings are but a "glorious accident"? The enduring belief that everything happens for a reason is examined through a conversation with major scholars, among them holders of prestigious chairs at Oxford and Cambridge Universities and the University of Basel, as well as several Gifford lecturers, and two Templeton prize winners. Organized historically, Abraham's Dice provides a wide-ranging scientific, theological, and biblical foundation to address the question of providence and divine action in a world shot through with contingency.
Author: Bradley Beach
Publisher: Augsburg Books
Published: 2014-02-01
Total Pages: 218
ISBN-13: 1451452373
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →The text presents a collection of essays that reflect upon the narrative of God’s command to Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac in Genesis 22. It explores various readings of Abraham and the Akedah story throughout history, including traditional, modern, and post modern readings, as well as through Jewish, Christian, and Islamic lenses. The book demonstrates the diversity of interpretations, and the dramatic impact of the story on the western intellectual tradition.
