Abraham's Role In Cultural Diffusion

The story of Abraham is a well-known tale in modern society. It is a complex story that highlights both a profound connection between god and a human, but also shows controversial moral problems with Abraham’s character.

It is therefore puzzling why Judaism, Christianity and Islam would choose to associate themselves with this man. This story is part of Jewish, Christian, and Islamic traditions, and each of these major monotheistic religions all associate their origins with this story. I find this interesting because this story does make Abraham out to be a completely righteous person. He makes many decisions that today would be looked at as inhumane such as almost sacrificing his own son, and casting out one of his wives with another one of his children.

In a basic sense, the common tradition of the Abraham story is an example of cultural diffusion. Abraham is considered the founding father of the Jews and the story is incorporated into Christian and Islamic texts. Usually one culture will adopt an idea from another culture if it feels that the idea will be beneficial or meaningful to the culture.  Yet, Abraham is not a man full of righteousness and morality, but rather a devoted religious figure that has made some very radical decisions. So why is he given such a special place in the history of Christianity and Islam if he is not a completely righteous person? 

I believe that the answer highlights an interesting incentive for a type of cultural diffusion. One would think that the incentive behind purposefully adopting ideas from other cultures would be to bring something meaningful and helpful to the culture. However, in this case, these immerging religions chose to identify with a controversial figure. I believe that writers of Christian and Islamic texts might have chosen to do so for the purpose of, for lack of a better term, marketing appeal. Abraham was a well-know religious figure in the times of Jesus and Mohammed.  If newly forming religions could count him among their ancestors, it probably made their emerging ideas seem less controversial to the surrounding population. I believe that this form of cultural diffusion can be looked at as a type of marketing decision.  Even though Abraham was a controversial figure, his fame may have helped the early followers of other religions spread their appeal. 

Cultures adopt ideas from each other consciously and subconsciously.  I believe that the story of Abraham may have been adopted by Christian and Islamic texts, despite Abraham’s flaws, for the purpose of appealing to a broader community.