“God had promised that Abraham would be the ancestor of many nations—and

indeed, in some ways he’s become the spiritual ancestor of all the

Abrahamic traditions, of all Jews and Christians and Muslims, four billion

of us in the world today. And yet at this point in the story, that great

lineage hangs by a thread. Abraham nearly kills his own son, nearly cutting

off God’s promise to create a great people, nearly ending the story of the

great love affair between God and the people of God before it’s really

begun.”