Genesis 18-23

Genesis 18: You will want to pay particular attention to the promise made to Sarah in 18:10. Notice her
    dismay and God's reaction. The beginning events at Sodom and Gomorrah reveal something
    interesting. Notice Abraham's bargaining with God over the number of men. This will become
    important later.

Genesis 19: This chapter is largely about God's dealings with the sins of those in the city. Be sure to
    read 19:16-29 carefully. Notice that Lot's wife was turned to into a pillar of salt due to disobeying God's
    command to not look back. This will parallel later claims made my Abraham with respect to Issac.
    Ask yourself, did Lot's wife exercise faith in heeding God's command? That will link it up...

Genesis 20: This is an interesting chapter that we could spend a lot of time on. Abraham and his wife
    Sarah go to a different land. In order not to be killed, Abraham tells them that Sarah is his sister and
    not his wife. The king sent for her to be part of his harem or stable. God tells the King she is a married
    woman in a dream and that he needed to return her. Notice that Abraham never admits he is her
    husband. God then blesses the King with children for his faithfulness.

Genesis 21: The promise mentioned in 18:10 is fulfilled. God gave them a son although she was supposedly
    barren. God then goes on to say that it is through Issac his offspring will be made not Hagar's son.
    Remember this because it sets the stage for one of many paradoxes in Gen. 22.

Genesis 22: We will read this in class. However, make sure you remember everything that has gone before
     this chapter.

Genesis 23: Abraham's wife dies. Notice the irony here. He gains a son, God tells him to kill the son but
    saves him, and then his wife dies. The bargaining over the field had to do with taxes and dues. Ephron
    gave him the whole field and cave so that he would no longer be responsible for the dues; but had
    he given Abraham just the cave, Ephron would still have to pay the dues. The final outcome was that
    she was given a proper burial through a proper burial site showing that Abraham respected his wife
    and what she had done for him and with him in life.

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Kierkegaard and his terminology.

aesthetic--normally associated with beauty and organized phenomenal properties. However, K-gaard
    is using it in a different sense, not entirely though. 'Aesthetic' is more in line with what is immediately
    given in experience--the confrontation of the individual with the world. This confrontation is either
    attractive or repulsive.

faith--faith is an achievement for a lifetime. It is a process, not a one time act and at the end of life,
    you may reach it. Others taught that faith is something we receive and then move forward from there.
    (p.42)
 
dialectic--In Hegelian terms it referred to the triad, thesis-antithesis-synthesis. But, with K-gaard try to
    see if this fits. He is not after synthesis, instead he tries to show us how the thesis and antithesis
    results in a contradiction or paradox. He then accepts it and moves forward. He does not try to
    take what's right (or wrong) about each view and bring about resolution--that would be synthesis.
 
resignation--(p.17) renouncing one's most cherished hopes when whatever is hoped for proves unnattainable
    but it is not giving up--you accept it that nothing on Earth will satisfy those hopes.

absurd--something that is humanly impossible or impossible to take place in our existing reality.

sacrifice--the religious dimension of killing something intentionally.

murder--the ethical dimension of killing something intentionally.

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The Attunement

Four different ways that the story of Abraham can be viewed. Notice the objective nature of the story, but
    the different subjective interpretations. The words are the same on the pages in all the stories, but
    what is read into them is entirely different. There are two principles of interpretation normally associated
    with the Bible: exegesis and isogesis. Exegesis is when you let the Scripture stand on its own with
    a minimal amount of subjective interpretation. Isogesis is when you read your subjective take into the
    Scripture. Kierkegaard is doing isogetical work here trying to show you how Abraham might be
    viewed differently under competing interpretations.