June 14, 2005
is abraham really a model of faithfulness?
is accepting god’s word without question, even when it means putting another’s life at stake, really our model of faithfulness?
and if so, why is that the last time god talk to abraham?
thoughts??
Posted in uncategorized by Sarah
Adam (the other one) said:
July 14th, 2005 at 11:05 pm
Abraham is no model of faithfulness to me. His actions, though perhaps “correct” when connected to his relationship with God do not reflect a deep commitment to his relationship with people, his own family. Kirkegaard used the passage as an example of the “uberman” (or something like that–it’s German). His point, if I remember correctly, is that only a very few people will ever be the type of person who could sacrifice one’s own son or one’s own self. In fact, that brings up some interesting connection to self-sacrifice bombing or suicide bombing. Some might say that terrorists are simply being good Abrahams, but following through.
Sarah said:
July 15th, 2005 at 8:42 am
Adam. I agree. I found that really hard to preach in a congregation though. I thought about making the connection between Abraham’s actions and terrorists, but decided against it – especially where I was preaching, people would not have been able to hear anything else after that. It was hard enough to preach a sermon that raised the question of Abraham’s faithfulness.
The question for me remains, why is this story here? Are we reading into it our own biases and views rather than accepting the moral it was meant to tell – or is it here to make us question what faithfulness is? The text itself doesn’t seem to criticize Abraham explicitly, it even seems to praise him a bit. How then do we stay faithful to the text and still raise the question?
Adam (the other one) said:
July 16th, 2005 at 1:43 am
I like your comments on us trying to read impose our vies on the text. I guess that the question it really comes down to: is the story intended as a straightforward message? Certainly, one might look at it as a black and white issue–following whatever God says is correct no matter the personal turmoil. And I really don’t know enough about the setting to judge. I do know, though, that I hate pinning God down to a narrow black and white understanding. Maybe a sermon that explored the topic “what the hell does the story mean” would be beneficial. You could present a few different ways of reading it and let the congregation figure it out for themselves? Moo.
Sarah said:
July 17th, 2005 at 9:59 am
Yeah, I hope that’s what I did. I appreciate that in the story the text slows way down. There is a distinct pacing to it and I wonder if it is not meant to slow us down and pay attention to the text.
I suppose it also helps to view the text as a story rather than a moral lesson. Stories are much richer and there meanings change and grow over time – that makes God far more appealing to me than a God who set it down once and for all.
You’re a lovely cow by the way – lovely.