Will the Real Abraham Please Stand Up? Jon D. Levenson Princeton University Press 2012, $29.95, pp. 244 The synthetic term “Abrahamic,” habitually used to depict the shared foundation of the three major Western monotheistic faiths, has rapidly gained currency in recent decades. From academic experts in the field of comparative religion to countless clerics involved in interfaith work, labeling Judaism, Christianity and Islam as Abrahamic underscores what they supposedly have in common: a singular God, similar scriptural traditions and, most to the point, a common patriarch in faith. And yet, as a superb new book by Harvard Divinity School’s Jon Levenson powerfully argues, this is all deeply misleading, because it obscures fundamental differences and historical antagonisms, many of which are buttressed precisely by exclusive claims to be the sole authentic inheritors of Abraham’s legacy. Of course, as...

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