Abraham: The First Historical Biography

by David Rosenberg

The world's three largest faiths all find a common root in one Abraham. Breaking new ground, David Rosenberg portrays Abraham as a man whose whole life, and therefore his legacy, is informed by the Sumerian culture that produced him. Abraham is a brilliant literary excavation of the ancient cultures from which our modern world has grown.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Judaism, Religion, Biography

368 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

David Rosenberg is an American poet, biblical translator, editor, and educator. He is best known for The Book of J (with Harold Bloom) and A Poet's Bible, which earned PEN Translation Prize in 1992. The Book of J stayed on The New York Times bestseller list for many weeks.

Reviews

[Raully · Rating 2 out of 5]

More speculation based on readings about ancient Sumerian culture than actual knowledge of an actual human being. Frustrating at times in its lack of rigor.

[Bernard · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is based on many speculations.

I have come across this problem that without such speculations, it is impossible to write such a book and yet with them it becomes dubious.

Overall I thought his arguments were interesting. I particularly liked his argument that the writings we had on the subject are largely theatre. It really made me thing.

[Ellie · Rating 1 out of 5]

The author makes a lot of leaps that aren't supported by the Biblical text. For example, Rosenberg states that in the scene where Abraham called on God, Abraham uses the name Yahweh. There is no evidence of this in the Bible. In fact, this is a question many Biblical scholars & readers have today, what name did Abraham use when calling on his personal (tutelary) deity? Rosenberg's use of this name would lead people to believing what is not true. The name Yahweh comes from Midian. It is a name that is given to Moses, not Abraham. In the Hebrew text, it is Jacob who gives us the name of the god of his ancestors. Jacob calls the tutelary deity "El-Elohe-Yisrael," meaning, "El the God of Israel." El is cannanite.

Rosenberg translates the story of Abraham by flourishing many of the details that aren't evident in the Biblical texts or supported by scholars. All in all this is a poor way of gleaning information on the historical life of Abraham & life in the ancient near east.

[Noel · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF exceedingly rambly and unsure of its foundation

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I pride myself on being an intelligent human being...but I need serious help in trying to decipher the message of this book. It styles itself an historical biography, but that only seems to be a small part of the overall package. It's wrapped so tightly in mysticism, the legacy of Sumerian culture, the rise of Babylon, and the concept of the "cosmic theatre" that it seems to forget about Abraham itself. In fact, when it does concentrate on Abraham, it does so with the loosest possible command of chronology. One part of me says this entire work is a mess, in dire need of a stronger editor...while another thinks is deals with so much it collapses under its own conceptual weight. A very discordant & unsatisfying read.

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rosenberg, as a writer, can be rather ethereal... BUT how nice to see the Old Testament treated within cultural and literary context. The selection of "historical biography" is very clever, as it is certainly the biography of a legend, not necessarily a man. Many facets are covered- the evolution of a single god, different literary voices in the Bible, ancient cultures of the Middle East, etc. I enjoyed it once I got past the writing style!

[Brett · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had to read this book for work. There's some really cool scholarly stuff going on looking at the Biblical figure of Abraham in a historical and cultural context as opposed to a religious one. Very clever and unique.

[Louann · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very academic. I liked where he was going with this, but after about 100 pages, it was very tedious. This book could have been cut to 1/3 of its size and the point and information would not have been lost. I did not finish this one.

[Terry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliantly realized and envisioned.

[Craig Bolton]

Abraham: The First Historical Biography by David Rosenberg (2007)

[withdrawn · Rating 1 out of 5]

WARNING: Do not read this book. Fabrication and nonsense. I should have known better. I think I'll blame Harold Bloom.