Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio - The Sacrifice of Isaac

In what follows, you will read an “academic paper” in which I explore some elements of open theism (the link is to a brief introduction to open theism).  This is a view of God’s foreknowledge that is controversial, but still in the evangelical family of belief.  The most well known Christian leader who holds to this view is Greg Boyd.  This will be a nine part series.

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Context into which Genesis 22 Speaks

Imagine that you are in the midst of an empire that is not your own.  Instead of choosing to live in this strange land, you endure captivity, longing for home.  This was certainly the case when Israel (and Judah) found itself in exile.  The people of God were in a true bind.  Prophets reminded these sojourners that their people were still the special son of God who would still partner with God in creating the future.  Yet, this hope seems a bit distant.  What stories would your people read in order to keep the faith that a better reality could break in at any moment? One such historical tale would certainly be the passage at hand.

In many ways, the context of exile was a mirror to the plight that faced Isaac.  Israel experienced the judgment of death to their nation by God, but in spite of this the prophet Jeremiah testified that they would not be completely destroyed “because I [God] am Israel’s father, and Ephraim is my firstborn son” (Jeremiah 31.9).  “As Isaac was saved from death, so was Israel delivered from the brink of annihilation.”[1] Even with this hope that God would bring them into liberation, the painful realization was that they chose the exact opposite path of their father Abraham.  He chose obedience in the greatest of paradoxical circumstances; they chose idolatry by climbing up the mountain to make sacrifices to pagan deities.  Abraham demonstrated everything exilic Israel failed to be. [Read more...]