In college, after I'd walked away from the Episcopal Church for the most part, but before I discovered Unitarian Universalism, I became quite absorbed in the story of Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac. I wrote an essay about it for my Advanced Exposition writing class, using the story as as a metaphor for fanaticism that puts an abstract cause above more immediate moral obligations. (The professor gave me a B, but suggested I rewrite it for a higher grade, taking into account Kierkegaard's Fear and Trembling, which I did.) For a subsequent playwriting class I wrote a one-act about the story, ending it with Abraham cursing God, even after Isaac has been saved, for what he sees as God's mercurial nature.
So, of course, I found these these recent items especially interesting to read...
4 hours ago
I always had the feeling Abraham was calling God's bluff. "You're testing ME? You really want to play this game? Fine, I'll play... I'll really sacrifice him, and you'll have to pull off a miracle, or else become known as a child-killer God like Baal. Don't play chicken with a patriarch!"
ReplyDelete