Marc Neininger 
Abraham and his discovery of God in Thomas Manns ‘Jakob und seine Brüder’ 

Essay from the year 2004 in the subject Didactics – German – Discussion and Essays, grade: 92%, eqals 1, 0, The University of Western Ontario, course: The bible and 20th century literature, language: English, abstract: In Thomas Mann’s Die Geschichten des Jakab, the first novel in the tetralogy Joseph und seine Brűder, Jakob is presented to us in quite a bewildering way. He is in god’s chosen linage. We expect such a character to be dignified, a leader, a man of merit and virtue. But Jakob is in most points the opposite of this. He steals the birthright and his father’s blessings from his older brother Esau. On the following flight he gets completely abased by the 16-year-old Eliphas, a son of Esau. During his time with Laban, he gains great wealth through trickery and finally he again flees while Laban is away. Also, within his family Jakob appears highly selective in his preferences. But not only he but also God is morally doubtful. He liked the sacrifice of Abel better than the one of Cain; then he almost destroys all life on earth with the flood. His treatment of Sodom and Gomorra is quite extreme and finally he chose one particular lineage as his favorite one. That linage starts with Abram. It is most peculiar, though, that Abram discovered God. Only because of this event Abram’s lineage is God’s chosen one. It is the actual discovery of God that constitutes Abram as the “Urvater”, since of course Abram had ancestors himself; therefore it is not Abram as a person himself who is decisive for his status. But as we will see later on, it is doubtful that Abram was actually one historic person.