Abraham: A short bio
I will indeed bless you, and I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of
heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore.
Genesis 22:17
The mists of legend and pre-history shroud the p...
Get up and go!
As a diocese, we have been working through the exodus story all year. It is Abraham who prefigures that story and sets the stage for it. Centuries before his descendants begin their sojourn in Egypt, Abraham is...
Abrahamic Religions – a comparison
Christianity, Islam, and Judaism are three of the most influential world religions in history. While Judaism isn't as large as Christianity and Islam, its impact on the world has still been as profound. Judaism...
Man of faith or yes-man?
In the book of Genesis, God tells Abraham to get up and leave his home and everything he knows for the promise of many heirs, and Abraham does it. After years of waiting, God finally delivers on that promise an...
Abraham and Moses: Lessons from our Big Read
“The mind and heart of God are vulnerable to the pleas and arguments of human creatures,” declared Dr. Terence Fretheim, as we gathered for the Exodus Colloquium to wrap up our months long study of Exodus on Ap...
“Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love …”
I have always hated the story of the sacrifice of Isaac (Genesis 22), and even today I shiver whenever I hear it. The story takes place on a remote mountain called Mount Moriah, and even that name has come to h...
Mount Moriah
Sarah is one of those Biblical figures who just doesn’t get a good ending.
In Chapter 21 of Genesis Sarah becomes jealous of her slave girl Hagar, who is the mother of Ishmael, Abraham’s firstborn son. So she ...
Another look at Abraham: A story and its uses
First, a disclaimer – I want to push a book by a good friend. Rabbi Jeffrey Salkin is an astute observer of all things that connect holiness and daily life. He is a scholar and a storyteller - in near equal mea...
REVIEW – Inheriting Abraham: The Legacy of the Patriarch in Judaism, Christianity & Islam
Inheriting Abraham: The Legacy of the Patriarch in Judaism, Christianity & Islam, By Jon D. Levenson (Princeton NJ: 2012, Princeton University Press)
While carefully noting the way that Abraham serves a...
Glean & Share
‘To glean,’ and ‘gleaning’ are mentioned almost 20 times in the Torah. While gleaning is not named specifically in the New Testament or the Quran, both invite us numerous times to share with those in need. If w...