Description
Book SynopsisThis book discusses the adult development of the Biblical Patriarch, Abraham, as a ''Spiritual Revolutionary'' (based on Genesis 11-25). It begins with the image of the ''akeda,'' the binding of Isaac in which a father is ready to murder his son, and asks what significance this disturbing scene holds for us today. Focusing on the Hebrew text, and with the help of life-cycle psychology and cultural anthropology, the author argues that the ''sacrifice of the most beloved son'' must be viewed not as an isolated act, but against the background of his personal and spiritual development, using the Biblical text as a life history. Abramovitch applies several approaches: theory of adult development; Robert Jay Lifton''s ''death and continuity of life''; themes of revolutionary continuity; psychology of birth order; name change, identity, and disguise; ethics of survival and post traumatic stress syndrome; and the nature of biography, life history, and life story. Abramovitch relates how A
Trade ReviewFirst the Father Abraham is a remarkable study. Abramovitch combines his biblical scholarship with carefully applied principles of cultural anthropology and of the psychology of the innovator. He does so with imagination, insight, devotion, and playfulness. Abraham emerges as a 'spiritual revolutionary' whose personal quest enriches us all. -- Robert Jay Lifton, Author of
The Protean Self
...Abramovitch manages to illumine the psychic, social and personal cost to this revolutionary figure...
First the Father Abraham is a remarkable study. Abramovitch combines his biblical scholarship with carefully applied principles of cultural anthropology and of the psychology of the innovator. He does so with imagination, insight, devotion, and playfulness. Abraham emerges as a 'spiritual revolutionary' whose personal quest enriches us all. -- Robert Jay Lifton, Author of The Protean Self
