Abraham as Spiritual Ancestor: A Postcolonial Zimbabwean Reading of Romans 4 »

Israel Kamudzandu, Ph.D. 2007 in New Testament Biblical Interpretation, Brite Divinity School, Texas Christian University, is an Assistant Professor of New Testament at Saint Paul School of Theology since January, 2008.

Drawing on the ideology of the Augustan era of constructing ancestors, this book is about Paul's creative construction of Abraham as a spiritual ancestor of "all" people who have the faith of Abraham and Sarah. The book breaks new accademic grounds on the value of ancestors in a 21st century global Christian world.

Preface ix

Acknowledgements xi

Introduction 1

Chapter 1 The Ancestor in Greco-Roman Culture: The Case of Aeneas 37

Chapter 2 Abraham in Hellenistic-Jewish Context 87

Chapter 3 The Shona Ancestral Cosmology 159

Chapter 4 Ancestry and Descendancy in Romans 4 203

Conclusion 237

Bibliography 247

Index of Ancient Documents 263

Subject Index 265