Fathers and Sons, Sacrifice and Substitution: Mimetic Theory and Islam in Genesis 22 and Sura 37

In Late Bronze Age diplomatic correspondence, vassals attempt to demonstrate their loyalty by declaring they would carry out any command of the king even if it is self-destructive. A critical aspect of these exchanges is that the seemingly harmful order was never meant to be fulfilled. The exaggerated offer to undergo needless suffering was sufficient proof that the subaltern was an arad kitti, or ‘faithful servant’. This rhetorical dynamic, wherein the ‘deferential gesture’ is enough to satisfy a seemingly overwrought demand, has relevance for evaluating components of the divine decree in Genesis 22, that Abraham deliver up his son ‘as a burnt offering’, his willingness to carry out its dictates, and the heavenly overlord’s ultimately setting aside its execution. The author suggests that the biblical episode was a symbolic ritual enacted between the deity and patriarch, whose intent was to exalt Abraham as the arad kitti, par excellence, and to demonstrate that God was the most trustworthy of suzerains.

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‘Fathers and sons’ in Xenophon’s teaching of the man taking care of himself

History of Education ◽

10.1080/0046760x.2016.1271910 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 46 (3) ◽

pp. 275-289 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Victoria Pichugina ◽

Vitaly Bezrogov

Keyword(s):

Fathers And Sons ◽

Taking Care

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Fathers and Sons in Virgil's Aeneid: Tum Genitor Natum

Phoenix ◽

10.2307/1087145 ◽

1981 ◽

Vol 35 (1) ◽

pp. 97

Author(s):

W. R. Johnson ◽

M. Owen Lee

Keyword(s):

Fathers And Sons

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The Binding of Isaac in J.R.R. Tolkien and Stephen King

Biblical Interpretation ◽

10.1163/15685152-00282p02 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 28 (2) ◽

pp. 150-174

Author(s):

Sebastian Selvén

Keyword(s):

Biblical Text ◽

Stephen King ◽

The Bible ◽

Genesis 22 ◽

Intertextual Dialogue

Abstract This article investigates biblical reception in the works of two popular modern fantasy authors. It stages an intertextual dialogue between Genesis 22:1-19, “the binding of Isaac”, and two episodes, in Stephen King’s The Gunslinger and J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Return of the King. After presenting the dynamics of what happens to the biblical text in these two authors and the perspectives that come out, a hermeneutical reversal is then suggested, in which the modern stories are used to probe the biblical text. One can return to the Bible with questions culled from its later reception, in this case King and Tolkien. This article argues that the themes touched upon by the two authors are important and hermeneutically relevant ones, sometimes novel and sometimes contributions to exegetical debates that have been going on for centuries.

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