Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-g7gxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T13:59:30.780Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

2 - Blood after Isaac

And God Said “Na”

from Part II - Blood Seeps in Where It Hardly Seems to Belong

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 March 2021

Eugene F. Rogers, Jr
Eugene F. Rogers, Jr
Affiliation:
University of North Carolina, Greensboro
Get access

Summary

“Blood after Isaac” reads the binding of Isaac, where some interpreters see blood, although the story never mentions it. This chapter introduces the pattern that blood seeps in where it seems not to belong. The little word "na," untranslated in English versions of the story, in modern Hebrew means simply "please," but in the Hebrew Bible indicates irony, as in "say, go ahead, see if I care." The chapter argues that the story of Isaac is best understood in terms of divine irony, God imitating Abraham as a trickster. Why does Abraham not catch on?

Keywords

bloodIsaacAbrahamchild sacrificetricksterGod
Type
Chapter
Information
Blood Theology
Seeing Red in Body- and God-Talk
 , pp. 39 - 50
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

  • Blood after Isaac
  • Eugene F. Rogers, Jr, University of North Carolina, Greensboro
  • Book: Blood Theology
  • Online publication: 22 March 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108909983.002
Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • Blood after Isaac
  • Eugene F. Rogers, Jr, University of North Carolina, Greensboro
  • Book: Blood Theology
  • Online publication: 22 March 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108909983.002
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Blood after Isaac
  • Eugene F. Rogers, Jr, University of North Carolina, Greensboro
  • Book: Blood Theology
  • Online publication: 22 March 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108909983.002
Available formats
×