Sublime

Abraham

Lincoln was strong and decisive as a leader. But he also embodied the Stoic maxim: sustine et abstine. Bear and forbear. Acknowledge the pain but trod onward in your task.

Abraham is the refutation of determinism. There are structures of power, but we can stand outside them. There are genetic influences on our behaviour, but we can master them. We are shaped by our parents, but we can go beyond them.

‘Am I my brother’s keeper?’ In other words, is what happens to my brother my responsibility? To this eternal human dilemma, Michael, a boy sold into slavery in sub-Saharan Africa, simply answered yes.

The covenant with Abraham and Israel is a calculated and far-reaching rejection of two other forms of civilization, tribalism and universalism.

He becomes the father of our faith! He becomes the seed through which God will bring people from all nations—of all ethnos—back together.

why Abraham was chosen—not because he was righteous, which he surely was, but because he would be a teacher.