'The Bosom of Abraham' (Luke 16:22): Father Abraham in the Visual Imagination

2007 ◽  
Vol 15 (4-5) ◽  
pp. 485-518
Author(s):  
Martin O'Kane
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Focal Point ◽  
Church Fathers ◽  
Visual Imagination ◽  
Male Characters ◽  
Visual Metaphors ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Genesis 22 ◽  
The Temple ◽  
The Sacrifice

AbstractThe phrase 'in the bosom of Abraham' occurs just once in the Bible (Lk. 16:22) and yet has become one of the most powerful and intriguing visual metaphors in the entire repertoire of Christian iconography. As the focal point of the parable of Dives and Lazarus, it suggests a haven of protection and security to which all the (male) characters in the story aspire. The Greek term κóλπoς, 'bosom,' is an ambiguous term that can be applied as much to a female figure as a male and indeed Abraham is often represented as if he were 'mother of all nations' rather than, or as well as, father. The iconography associated with the image of Abraham's bosom is both extensive and complex, especially during the period of the Middle Ages, but in this article, I select a range of representative examples to illustrate how artists and iconographers appealed to other biblical texts to help illuminate the meaning and significance of the phrase in Luke: in particular, the sacrifice of Isaac in Genesis 22; the infancy narrative of Luke including the presentation in the temple (Luke 1-2), and the woman who gives birth in Revelation 12. In interpreting the image, artists frequently followed the direction of the exegetes and Church Fathers but this does not seem always to have been the case, especially when it came to harmonizing the contrasting images of Abraham as sacrificial father of Isaac and protective father of Lazarus. Contrary to many biblical commentators, the iconographical tradition largely ignores any suggestion that the bosom of Abraham signifies Lazarus reclining at a heavenly banquet next to Abraham, preferring instead to concentrate on the challenges posed in conveying the somewhat incongruous notion of Abraham, the most venerated of patriarchs, holding a naked and vulnerable child in his bosom.

Edward Kessler. Bound by the Bible: Jews, Christians and the Sacrifice of Isaac. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004. xii, 222 pp.

AJS Review ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 370-372
Author(s):  
Joel Kaminsky
Keyword(s):  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Early Church ◽  
Church Fathers ◽  
Cambridge University ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Genesis 22 ◽  
The Sacrifice ◽  
Sacrifice Of Isaac

Kessler's erudite book aims to prove not only that exegetical encounters occurred between the ancient rabbis and the early church fathers in both directions, but also that “to understand properly Jewish or Christian exegesis in late antiquity it is essential to understand each other's interpretations and the influence of one upon the other” (182). He begins by reviewing the shortcomings of previous approaches to Jewish–Christian interaction in late antiquity. Kessler then puts forward what he terms the exegetical approach, suggests some controls on this method, and proceeds to test his hypothesis by conducting a verse-by-verse examination of Genesis 22. In each chapter, he first surveys a few major early interpreters, such as Philo and Josephus, and then compares Rabbinic and early Christian interpretations on Genesis 22 in some detail. There is also a final chapter that examines ancient artistic renderings of Abraham's near sacrifice of Isaac.

Silent Springs: Groundwater Resources Under Threat

2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. M. Edmunds
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Hydrological Cycle ◽  
Focal Point ◽  
Tap Water ◽  
Groundwater Resources ◽  
Pure Water ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Creation Myths ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Spring Flow

Springs are symbolic of the sustainability of life on earth. Since the earliest times flowing springs have been held as sacred and as a subject of awe and fascination. Subterranean water is identified in the creation myths on Babylonian tablets, where waters above the earth are separated from the ‘water of the deep’. The persistence of these creation myths is still reflected in the Arabic word ain or ayun, which has the double meaning of spring and eye (Issar 1991). Springs were the eyes of the gods. Springs (or fountains) were the focal point of many events in the Bible and other religious texts, and were the subject of veneration, as in Psalm 104: 10, ‘He sendeth the springs into the valleys, which run among the hills Modern scientific understanding of the origins of spring flow dates from the seventeenth century. The earliest explanations of the hydrological cycle, often termed the reversed hydrological cycle, probably stem from biblical sources (Ecclesiastes 1: 7). The unexplained constancy of the ocean volume was accounted for by the return of seawater through the rocks, which then purified them and returned the water to the surface as freshwater rivers and springs. This interpretation of the hydrological cycle persisted through the writings of ancient Greece and Rome as in Seneca’s Quaestiones Naturales and into the Middle Ages (Tuan 1968) until correctly explained by Edmond Halley(Halley 1691). In modern society spring waters are valued highly because they still embody an element of mystery and bring us face to face with the subsurface expression of the hydrological cycle or ‘groundwater’. There is also traditional belief that spring waters represent a source of perennial pure water. The properties of pure spring water command a high market value and in a world where tap water is (often wrongly) perceived as something less pure, the bottled water image-makers seek after evidence of the purity, longevity, and healing properties of the spring, with a zeal that echoes the reverence accorded to spring waters by early philosophers. The objective of this chapter is to explore the reasons for the decline of natural springs and the fragility of groundwater resources in general.

scholarly journals “A Model of Christ”: Melito’s Re-Vision of Jewish Akedah Exegeses

2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Paba Nidhani De Andrado
Keyword(s):  
Second Century ◽  
Genesis 22 ◽  
The Temple ◽  
The Sacrifice

Several scholars have proposed that Melito, the second-century bishop of Sardis, manifests awareness of Jewish exegeses of Genesis 22 (or Akedah). This article investigates the extent and implications of Melito’s engagement with that Akedah tradition. The first part of this essay examines the Jewish exegetical strands that were in existence during Melito’s period. The second part analyzes Melito’s Fragments 9, 10 and 11, with reference to the Jewish exegeses. This article demonstrates the depth of Melito’s reliance on and response to the Akedah tradition, as he employs its motifs on Isaac, the ram and the Temple site. The Akedah tradition serves as a stimulus for Melito’s soteriological ideas, as he develops his perspectives on the sacrifice of Christ. The Fragments further reveal Melito’s complex attitude towards Judaism, marked by contact, tension and creativity.

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

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.

MARCEL PAGNOL'S THE BAKER'S WIFE, A CINEMATIC CHARIVARI IN POPULAR FRONT FRANCE

2005 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 437-469 ◽  
Author(s):  
BRETT BOWLES
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Focal Point ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Popular Front ◽  
Partisan Politics ◽  
National Union ◽  
Late Middle Ages ◽  
The Social ◽  
Definition Of

Taking an anthropological approach, this article interprets Pagnol's critically acknowledged classic as a reinvention of a carnivalesque ritual practised in France from the late middle ages through the late 1930s, when ethnographers observed its last vestiges. By linking La Femme du boulanger (The baker's wife, 1938) to contemporaneous debates over gender, national decadence, and the definition of French cultural identity, I argue that the film recycles the charivari's long-standing function as a tool of popular protest against social and political practices regarded as detrimental to the welfare of the nation. In the context of the Popular Front, Pagnol's charivari ridiculed divisive partisan politics pitting Left against Right, symbolically purged class conflict from the social body, and created a new form of folklore that served as a focal point for the communitarian ritual of movie-going among the urban working and middle classes. In so doing, the film promoted the ongoing shift in public support away from the Popular Front in favour of a conservative ‘National Union’ government under Prime Minister Edouard Daladier, who in 1938–9 assumed the role of France's newest political patriarch.

The foundations of the house (Q 2: 127)

2009 ◽  
Vol 72 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Witztum
Keyword(s):  
Central Point ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Genesis 22

AbstractIn Quran 2: 127 Ibrāhīm founded “the house” (most probably a reference to the Kaʿba) together with his son Ismāʿīl. This scene does not appear in the Bible and none of the attempts to find a literary precedent for it are satisfactory. This paper argues that this scene reflects post-biblical traditions concerning Genesis 22. The argument is based on a comparison of the Quran, quranic commentaries, rabbinic sources and Syriac homilies on Gen. 22. After suggesting an origin for the story, the paper analyses the ways in which the Quran adapted and appropriated the story to its needs. The replacement of Isaac with Ismāʿīl is a central point addressed in this context.

scholarly journals NATIONALHISTORIE EFTER MODERNISMEN - FOLKEBEGREBET I LYSET AF EUROPAS STORE FORTÆLLINGER

1970 ◽  
Vol 42 (117) ◽  
pp. 159-174
Author(s):  
Michael Böss
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
French Revolution ◽  
Main Role ◽  
National History ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The People ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Middle Ages

WRITING NATIONAL HISTORY AFTER MODERNISM: THE HISTORY OF PEOPLEHOOD IN LIGHT OF EUROPEAN GRAND NARRATIVES | The purpose of the article is to refute the recent claim that Danish history cannot be written on the assumption of the existence of a Danish people prior to 19th-century nationalism. The article argues that, over the past twenty years, scholars in pre-modern European history have highlighted the limitations of the modernist paradigm in the study of nationalism and the history of nations. For example, modernists have difficulties explaining why a Medieval chronicle such as Saxo Grammaticus’s Gesta Danorum was translated in the mid-1600s, and why it could be used for new purposes in the 1800s, if there had not been a continuity in notions of peoplehood between the Middle Ages and the Modern Age. Of course, the claim of continuity should not be seen as an argument for an identity between the “Danes” of Saxo’s time and the Danes of the 19th-century Danish nation-state. Rather, the modern Danishness should be understood as the product of a historical process, in which a number of European cultural narratives and state building played a significant role. The four most important narratives of the Middle Ages were derived from the Bible, which was a rich treasure of images and stories of ‘people’, ‘tribe’, ‘God’, King, ‘justice’ and ‘kingdom’ (state). While keeping the basic structures, the meanings of these narratives were re-interpreted and placed in new hierarchical positions in the course of time under the impact of the Reformation, 16th-century English Puritanism, Enlightenment patriotism, the French Revolution and 19th-century romantic nationalism. The article concludes that it is still possible to write national histories featuring ‘the people’ as one of the actors. But the historian should keep in mind that ‘the people’ did not always play the main role, nor did they play the same role as in previous periods. And even though there is a need to form syntheses when writing national history, national identities have always developed within a context of competing and hierarchical narratives. In Denmark, the ‘patriotist narrative’ seems to be in ascendancy in the social and cultural elites, but has only partly replaced the ‘ethno-national’ narrative which is widespread in other parts of the population. The ‘compact narrative’ has so far survived due the continued love of the people for their monarch. It may even prove to provide social glue for a sense of peoplehood uniting ‘old’ and ‘new’ Danes.

scholarly journals "Uw lijden is mijn' pijne."

1970 ◽  
Vol 62 ◽  
pp. 251-271
Author(s):  
Christophe Van der Vorst
Keyword(s):  
Literary Work ◽  
Church Fathers ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Christian Discourse

The long consolatory poem for the blind, Ooghentroost, written by the Dutchseventeenth-century poet, Constantijn Huygens, looks like an intricate webof dialogues. The text is first of all a letter from Huygens to Lucretia vanTrello, an older friend of the author who suffered from cataract. One canregard this poem also as a collection of links between the lines in Dutch andthe margin of the poem, a subtext of references to the oeuvres of diverseauthorities such as playwrights (Euripides, Seneca, ... ), philosophers (Plato,Cicero, ... ), poets (Homer, Ovid, ... ), Church Fathers and the Bible. In thispaper I examine one specific dialogue - a conversation between Huygens andLucius Annaeus Seneca. Huygens frequently refers to Seneca's philosophicaland literary work but his entretien with the Roman writer is not in the leastunproblematic. To fit Seneca's stoic ideas into his own Christian discourse onthose who are morally blind the poet cannot but manipulate the words of hisillustrious interlocutor.

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