PEDAGOGIA TANATOLOGICĂ ÎN APOCRIFA TESTAMENTUL LUI AVRAAM
The Thanatological Pedagogy in Abraham’s Testament apocrypha

Summary/Abstract: Abraham’s Testament is one of two apocryphal writings – susceptible of Christian influence – that deals with the Abraham which is the primary figure of monotheistic religions. This apocrypha narrates the conflict between Abraham, the Righteous, and Death (which is understood as divorce of soul from body). This conflict has an ontological dimension and is not only mere initiation. However, this essay attempts to argue that the main point of this apocrypha is not the conflict as such, but the understanding of death. Hence, the accent lies not in the existential dimension (Abraham’s struggle to refute Death’s invitation) but in the gnoseological dimension. In other words, the essay suggests the pedagogical reading of apocrypha (what Abraham has to learn about death and ultimately about himself while struggling) instead of the phenomenological one (his obstinate refusal to die and the subsequent fight with a personified Death). Needless to say, these two dimensions are not to be separated: they work together since one way to understand Abraham’s refusal to submit himself to Death’s request (here as person) is the fact that he does not understand the deep meaning of death (here as process which does not discriminate even the Righteous). Hence, prior to understanding a natural process, Abraham has to understand the personification of this process and – I claim – that is the point which the apocrypha makes.This apocrypha and the essay that I propose might be used further to comment upon some excellent adaptations of Death’s personification: Death Takes a Holiday (1934) directed by Mitchell Leisen and Meet Joe Black (1998) by Martin Brest with Brad Pitt and Anthony Hopkins.

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