The Death and Resurrection of the Beloved Son; The Transformation of Child Sacrifice in Judaism and Christianity

by Jon D. Levenson

• ISBN13: 9780300065114
• ISBN10: 0300065116
• Edition: Revised
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 1995-08-30
• Publisher: Yale University Press

Summary

The near-sacrifice and miraculous restoration of a beloved son is a central but largely overlooked theme in both Judaism and Christianity, celebrated in biblical texts on Isaac, Ishmael, Jacob Joseph, and Jesus. In this highly original book Jon D. Levenson explores how this notion of child sacrifice constitutes an overlooked bond between two religions.

Table of Contents

Preface
Acknowledgments
List of Abbreviations
A Father's Gift
Child Sacrifice in the Hebrew Bible: Deviation or Norm?	p. 3
YHWH versus Molech	p. 18
The Sacrifice of the Son as the Imitation of God	p. 25
El and the Beloved Son	p. 32
The People Israel as the Son of God	p. 36
The Sacrifice of the First-Born Son: Eradicated or Transformed?	p. 43
The Beloved Sons in Genesis
First-Born and Late-Born, Fathers and Mothers	p. 55
The Loved and the Unloved	p. 61
Favor and Fratricide	p. 69
"Let me not look on as the child dies"	p. 82
The Aqedah as Etiology	p. 111
Isaac Unbound	p. 125
The Beloved Son as Ruler and Servant	p. 143
The Beloved Son Between Zion and Golgotha
The Rewritten Aqedah of Jewish Tradition	p. 173
The Displacement of Isaac and the Birth of the Church	p. 200
The Revisioning of God in the Image of Abraham	p. 220
Notes	p. 233
Scripture Index	p. 251
Author Index	p. 258
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