Sarah and Hagar in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic Traditions
From their first appearances in the Hebrew Bible through innumerable (re)interpretations in subsequent millennia, the figures of Sarah and Hagar have provoked reflection on the life cycle, fertility, conception, and childbirth; resource allocation, inheritance, and enslavement; sustaining life in precarious environments; group solidarity and partition; sex, gender, and ethnicity; and imagined relations between human and non-human entities, gods, angels, and demons. Across historical epochs and geographic regions, Sarah and Hagar have been like mirrors in which individuals and communities have found meaning and support.
The project comprises an ongoing series of lectures and discussions, and is expected to culminate in the publication of an edited volume to complement previous work in Claudia D. Bergmann and Thomas R. Blanton IV., eds, Imitating Abraham: Ritual and Exemplarity in Jewish and Christian Contexts (Brill, 2025).
Thomas R. Blanton and Claudia D. Bergmann welcome participation in and contributions to the ongoing lecture series, and proposals for articles to be included in the planned volume. All those interested in the myriad ways in which the legacies of Sarah and/or Hagar are drawn upon in Islam, Christianity, and Judaism, and in literature, poetry, art, music, and media from antiquity to the present are welcome to participate in the project. To propose a lecture or article contribution for the project, please contact Claudia D. Bergmann (cdb@mail.uni-paderborn.de) or Thomas R. Blanton IV (tblanton@jcu.edu). More information (including Zoom links to upcoming sessions) available at tinyurl.com/sarahagar
UPCOMING SEMINARS:
Hagar in Biblical Texts
April 23, 2025, 1:30-2:30pm ET, Zoom
Papers by Claudia Bergmann and Thomas R. Blanton IV
Hagar in Islam
May 7, 2025, 1:30-2:30 ET, Zoom
Papers by Zishan Ghaffar and Semiha Topal
