'He Speaks in Tongues': Hearing the Truth of Abraham's Words of Faith

Dr Jeffrey Hanson (Australian Catholic University)

This paper examines the exact manner in which Abraham expresses his faith in the words he utters in Genesis chapter 22, verse 8, words that occupy Johannes de Silentio’s attention in the closing pages of Fear and Trembling: When Isaac asks his father where the sacrifice is for the burnt offering, Abraham replies: “God himself will provide a lamb for the burnt offering.” I will argue that these words both in form and content encapsulate one of the key features of Abraham’s faith. They give voice to a trust that God will provide while remaining completely indeterminate with respect to how God will provide. I read the final utterance of Abraham therefore as a model of all communication about faith, including the text of Fear and Trembling itself. Insofar as Abraham himself does not fully grasp the meaning of his own words, or his own words gesture toward a truth that eludes his grasp and the grasp of any traditional discourse, philosophical or poetic, he provides the paradigm for not just faith itself but for all intelligible talk about faith.