Journal for the study of the Pseudepigrapha
Vol 18.
1 (2008): 33-53
© 2008 SAGE Publications, Los Angeles, London, New Delhi and Singapore
DOI: 10.
1177/0951820708096650
http://JSP.
sagepub.
com
‘The Gods of My Father Terah’:
Abraham the Iconoclast and the...
More
Journal for the study of the Pseudepigrapha
Vol 18.
1 (2008): 33-53
© 2008 SAGE Publications, Los Angeles, London, New Delhi and Singapore
DOI: 10.
1177/0951820708096650
http://JSP.
sagepub.
com
‘The Gods of My Father Terah’:
Abraham the Iconoclast and the Polemics
with the Divine Body Traditions
in the Apocalypse of Abraham
ANDREI A.
ORLOV
Theology Department, Marquette University, PO Box 1881, Milwaukee,
WI 53201-1881, USA
Abstract
The first eight chapters of the Apocalypse of Abraham recount the early years of the
young hero of the faith who is depicted as a fighter against the idolatrous practices of his
father Terah.
The conceptual developments found in this section of the work, especially
in the depictions of the idolatrous statues, seem to play an important role in the work’s
overall retraction of the anthropomorphic understanding of the deity.
In the depictions of
the idol Bar-Eshath (‘the Son of Fire’) and some other human-like figures, whose
features are vividly reminiscen
Less
