|
|
Article: ABRAHAM, OUR FATHER.(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- Catholic Insight
- Article date:
- October 1, 2000
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2000 Catholic Insight. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
Abraham is the patriarch of Judaism. But he is also a patriarch of Christianity; so his name, which means "father of many", is fitting. Abraham is the earliest (around 1700 BC) biblical character for whom we have a fragmentary or episodic biography.
Abraham may have been a merchant or a farmer; he lived a nomadic life, moving from Ur to Canaan to Egypt in a pattern that tracks the migrations of the Jewish people.
The Book of Genesis tells us many stories of Abraham. For example, it is Abraham (in chapter 18) who bargains with God to save the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah; like a skilled union negotiator, Abraham bargains God down from 50 to 40 to 10 ...