The authors of this volume explore political interpretations of the ancestral narratives. The essays enquire after the political intentions of various narrative units or literary layers. The significance of the ancestresses is also discussed, along with political receptions of ancestral narratives in early Jewish literature and Islam.
The ancestral narratives of Genesis have a decidedly political character. The narrative presentations of ancestors and their kin reflect the relationships of the later people of Israel with their neighboring peoples. In light of the findings of recent Pentateuch research, this volume addresses important aspects of the political meaning of these narratives. The collection of nineteen contributions from internationally renowned experts explores, for example, the political intention of various narrative units or literary layers. The political significance of the ancestresses is also discussed, and the political receptions of ancestral narratives in early Jewish literature and in Islam traced.
Table of contents:
Mark G. Brett/ Jakob Wöhrle: Introduction -
Ronald Hendel: Politics and Poetics in the Ancestral Narratives -
Reinhard G. Kratz: Die Verheißungen an die Erzväter. Die Konstruktion ethnischer Identität Israels -
Megan Warner: What if They're Foreign? Inner-Legal Exegesis in the Ancestral Narratives -
Konrad Schmid: Die Priesterschrift als antike Historiographie. Quellen und Darstellungsweise der politischen und religiösen Geschichte der Levante in den priesterschriftlichen Erzelternerzählungen -
Mark G. Brett: YHWH among the Nations. The Politics of Divine Names in Genesis 15 and 24 -
Yairah Amit: The Place of Exile in the Ancestorsʼ Narratives and in their Framework -
Sarah Shectman: Israel's Matriarchs: Political Pawns or Powerbrokers? -
Irmtraud Fischer: Rahel und Lea bauten ganz Israel auf - Rebekka ermöglichte eine gemeinsame Identität -
Oded Lipschits: Abraham zwischen Mamre und Jerusalem -
Thomas Römer: Die politische Funktion der vorpriesterlichen Abrahamtexte -
Matthias Köckert: Hagar und Ismael. Politische Aspekte im Wandel der Überlieferungen -
Christophe Nihan: Abraham Traditions and Cult Politics in the Persian Period. Moriyyāh and Šalēm in Genesis -
Omer Sergi: Jacob and the Aramaean Identity of Ancient Israel between the Judges and the Prophets -
Jakob Wöhrle: Koexistenz durch Unterwerfung. Zur Entstehung und politischen Intention der vorpriesterlichen Jakoberzählung -
Christian Frevel: »Esau, der Vater Edoms« (Gen 36,9.43). Ein Vergleich der Edom-Überlieferungen in Genesis und Numeri vor dem Hintergrund der historischen Entwicklung -
Jacques T.A.G.M. van Ruiten: The Reception of the Abraham Narrative in the Book of Jubilees -
Beate Ego: »Nimm dir eine Frau aus dem Geschlecht deiner Väter« (Tob 4,12). Die Rezeption der Erzelternerzählung im Tobitbuch -
George J. Brooke: The Politics of the Patriarchs in the Dead Sea Scrolls -
Reuven Firestone: The »Other« Ishmael in Islamic Scripture and Tradition
