I do think the historicist complications are absolutely worth thinking about.
However, I do think it's fair to interrogate this story as we moderns are experiencing it today. As I was saying in the episode, it's all too easy to come up with ways of thinking about the story that make it less troubling. But in doing so, I believe we're trying to look away from questions that we ought not look away from.
(If you're a Kantian/Rawlsian/Dawkinsian, of course, you also don't want to look too closely, for all you see is "backwardness" instead of the human condition.)
And in that line, if child sacrifice was common in the region, maybe the Isaac story can be seen as showing how this god is better than the others because he doesn't make you go through with it.
The Iphigeneia parallel is also interesting, although sacrificing a daughter is certainly not apples to apples in the ancient context.
Right, Kronos/Saturn did not preserve his own children, why would he feel the need to preserve yours.
I do think the historicist complications are absolutely worth thinking about.
However, I do think it's fair to interrogate this story as we moderns are experiencing it today. As I was saying in the episode, it's all too easy to come up with ways of thinking about the story that make it less troubling. But in doing so, I believe we're trying to look away from questions that we ought not look away from.
(If you're a Kantian/Rawlsian/Dawkinsian, of course, you also don't want to look too closely, for all you see is "backwardness" instead of the human condition.)
I donтАЩt know. I was suggesting that child sacrifice is pretty troubling.
Right, but under the assumption of moral progress, right?
And in that line, if child sacrifice was common in the region, maybe the Isaac story can be seen as showing how this god is better than the others because he doesn't make you go through with it.
The Iphigeneia parallel is also interesting, although sacrificing a daughter is certainly not apples to apples in the ancient context.