The Sacrifice of Isaac : The Aqedah (Genesis 22) and Its Interpretations

The central theme of the papers read at the conference about the Aqedah is the history of reception of Genesis 22: The Sacrifice of Isaac. After observations related to the biblical text and human sacrifice in Ancient Israel, the sacrifice of Iphigeneia is studied, followed by papers about the reception of the Aqedah in Qumran, in Jubilees, in Rabbinical and in Christian Syriac traditions, finally in a recently published poem in the Bodmer papyri and in the Koran. Important contributions are made by the history of art. Two essays in this volume study the older iconography and the Aqedah in Italian art. The reception in modern times: Kierkegaard, a gender-motivated and a psychoanalytical reading can be found in the last part of the volume. The studies published in this volume bring surprising and oft neglected aspects of the famous narrative to light. How in different times and in different circles Genesis 22 has been interpreted is an encouragement for hermeneutical reflection and a help for exegesis itself. 41kV52a5V5L 9789004497320-7580 Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents List of Illustrations Preface Abbreviations Contributors Genesis 22: Human Sacrifice and Theology in the Hebrew Bible Sacrificing a Child in Ancient Greece: The Case of Iphigeneia The Sacrifice of Isaac in 4Q225 Abraham, Job and the Book of Jubilees: The Intertextual Relationship of Genesis 22:1–19, Job 1–2:13 and Jubilees 17:15–18:19 The Aqedah and Its Interpretations in Midrash and Piyyut The Bodmer Poem on the Sacrifice of Abraham The Lamb on the Tree: Syriac Exegesis and Anti-Islamic Apologetics Ibrāhīm’s Sacrifice of His Son in the Early Post-Koranic Tradition Abraham’s Sacrifice in Early Jewish and Early Christian Art Three Italian Sacrifices: Lorenzo Ghiberti, Andrea Del Sarto, Michelangelo Merisi Da Caravaggio Kierkegaard’s Reading of the Sacrifice of Isaac The Sacrifice of Abraham as a (Temporary) Resolution of a Descent Conflict? A Gender-Motivated Reading of Genesis 22 Isaac Threatened by the Knife of Psychoanalysis? Bibliography of Recent Studies References to Ancient Texts Illustrations