The figure Abraham is regarded, even to this day, as a model of piety and a standard of exemplary living. His function as a figure with whom Jews identified, is only as old as the texts which relate this role. The present essay outlines the attributes and significance attributed to this "Father of faith" in the Hebrew Bible and creative expressions thereof in ancient Jewish and rabbinical literature. The patriarch repeatedly appears in these writings as a figure onto which the questions, problems, hopes and fears of their authors and recipients arc projected. The depiction of Abraham in the Hebrew Bible reflects the attempt to cope with the catastrophe of the Babylonian Exile, which the Jewish writings from the Hellenistic and Roman eras utilize Abraham partly to sustain their own religious and cultural identity and partly as a beacon to their contemporary environment. Finally, the rabbinical movement integrated the figure of Abraham into their theological construct of the significance of the Torah as a way to salvation.

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Personen: Tilly, Michael

Schlagwörter: Bibel Judentum Abraham Literatur Jüdische Identität