What to make of one of the most shocking stories in the Bible? On the one hand scholars urge us to hear this story as a "test of faith."

IT’S NOT EASY to teach a lesson about Abraham’s intended sacrifice of his son, what Judaism calls the Akedah or “binding” of Isaac.To our modern ears the story is simply outrageous.

THE READINESS to sacrifice in the readings for this Sunday could characterize as well John of God, the 16th-century saint whose feast the church celebrates later in the week.

We place ourselves before the mercy of God for the times we have not trusted in God's guidance.

"He who did not spare his own Son." The Child of Promise, it seems, is never far from death. In what turns out to be a terrible trial of Abraham's faith, his son comes within inches of being sacrificed.

When you hear or read a gospel story it can be easy to overlook the small but important clues the writers are giving you.

By virtue of Isaac who offered himself as a sacrifice on top of the altar, the Holy One . . . will resurrect the dead in the future.  --Mekilta of Rabbi Simeon