22:2.
With these words, spoken to Abraham by his God, begins one of the most enduring and ethically problematic narratives in the Jewish religion, one that still resonates today in questions about faith and obedience, religion
and the state. Must Abraham obey his God?
It is common to understand the binding of Isaac as a symbol of blind religious obedience. If not for the intervention of an angel, Abraham would have killed his son. Moreover, since Abraham in this story isn’t
just the father of Isaac — he is also the father of monotheism — the narrative seems to teach that faith in general is synonymous with [...]