Father Abraham's Many Children (Tyler Mayfield) - A Review
In this
book, Tyler Mayfield invites us to read Genesis from the perspective of
religious pluralism. He does so by focusing on the stories of three sets of
brothers—Cain and Abel, Isaac and Ishmael, and Jacob and Esau. Each of these
three stories involves sibling rivalry and animosity. The first story, of
course, involves fratricide. In traditional readings of these texts, the
younger brother always comes out on top, while the older brother is often
ignored or vilified (as an elder brother, that is not a reading I appreciate). What
Mayfield does in this book is reverse things a bit by asking what if we paid
more attention to the older brothers in these stories? What might learn about
chosenness and covenants? Could it be that God's idea of covenant is broader
than we've been led to believe? Could chosenness include more people than we've
allowed in? Mayfield ponders these questions as a Christian interpreter of the
Old Testament. He writes, one would assume, first to Christians, inviting us to
rethink the way we understand our relationships with the broader religious
world. This has profound implications for our relationships with our religious
neighbors.
I come
to Father Abraham’s Many Children as a Christian pastor/theologian who
has been actively involved in interfaith work for more than two decades. Over
the years I've developed deep and abiding friendships with people whose
religious commitments are different from my own. These friendships have been a
blessing to me. Hopefully, this is true for my friends as well. Because of
these friendships, I resonated with the message of the book. I appreciated what
Mayfield has done to uncover a way forward in our interfaith relationships that
are rooted in the way in which we read our sacred literature. He invites us to
join him on a pathway that involves "reading anew our sacred
literature" Indeed, he writes that "instead of viewing religious
diversity as a problem to be solved, we must build on the assumption that
religious diversity is a promise to be engaged. To engage faithfully, we
Christians will need fresh interpretations of key biblical texts" (p, 21).
Indeed!
This is
not a lengthy book. It can probably be read in a few hours (it’s just around
125 pages in length). Nevertheless, Mayfield’s exploration of the stories of
these three brothers from the perspective of religious pluralism opens up
entirely new horizons of understanding. Even if we don’t know the full story of
these three sets of brothers, most readers will have at least a sense of who
they are and why they are important to the larger biblical story. What Mayfield
does is ask us to pay attention to details that are easily missed or not
emphasized in our traditional telling of the biblical story. That is especially
true of Ishmael and Esau.
While
Cain and Abel are ancestors rather than children of Abraham, when we read the book,
we understand why they are chosen to be included. Most readers of this review
will know that Cain, the oldest son of Adam and Eve, killed his brother, Abel, making
it the first act of violence in the biblical story. This act of violence is
rooted in God's unexplained preference for Abel’s offering. For some reason,
Cain gets upset when God rejects his offering and takes his anger out on his
brother (by killing him). This leads to God’s question for Cain: Where is your
brother? Cain answers with a question of his own: "Am I my brother's
keeper?" The answer is, of course, yes. Mayfield notes that Cain seems to
have a problem with difference and diversity. He can't accept that his
brother's gift might be better received and so he gets angry. We do that
sometimes, don't we? What is interesting here, according to Mayfield, is the
grace that God extends to Cain in the end. Even though Cain shows little
concern for his brother, God takes note of Cain’s concern for himself and
offers him grace. Thus, as Mayfield points out, “God transforms Cain despite
Cain's inability to engage diversity. Cain may not be able to get beyond the
differences he sees in his sibling, but he is given divine grace to continue
his life" (p. 62). As for the question that Cain asked God about being his
brother's keeper, Mayfield reinforces the divine message that as children of
God we are responsible for our siblings, all of them!
Ishmael
is Abraham’s oldest son, but for Jews and Christians, he is not a figure that
gets a lot of respect in our communities. In fact, he is often ignored or
mischaracterized. He’s the one God rejects in favor of Isaac. My Muslim friends
have a different take on this story. For them, Ishmael rather than Isaac is the
fount of Abrahamic blessing. It is Ishmael who plays a leading role in Arab and
Muslim self-identity. That is because Ishmael, not Isaac, is Abraham’s heir.
For Christians, spending time with Ishmael can be eye-opening. Here in Genesis,
Isaac is the promised one, but God doesn’t forget Ishmael. In fact, God makes a
covenant with Ishmael and his descendants, promising to make him a great
nation. He is also circumcised, which means he received the sign of the
covenant. Mayfield notes that sometimes it's translations that cloud the issue
and marginalize voices like Ishmael. But, by attending to his story and that of
his mother Hagar, we discover that God doesn't draw the boundary lines as
sharply as we often do. Unfortunately, in our traditional readings of Genesis, “we
ignore Ishmael because he has had little relevance in Christianity (and Judaism).”
So, we erase him from our narrative. However, he’s not ignored by the writers
of Genesis (p. 91). Thus, we need to pay attention to his story and the stories
of others we may see as outsiders. His story suggests that God may not be so
quick to set aside people we deem irrelevant.
Finally,
we come to the story of Esau and Jacob. Yes, the twins who wrestle in the womb
and beyond. It's the story of two brothers, one of whom is beloved of his
father and the other of his mother. Esau is often understood to be cursed
because he sells his birthright for a pot of stew, but is this true? Because of
the way we read this part of the story, we tend to honor Jacob and view Esau as
being less honorable than Jacob. That is interesting in light of Jacob’s own
trickster lifestyle. For some reason, we tend to identify with Jacob when he
receives the blessing of his father, even though he gains the blessing through
deceit. The question Mayfield raises here concerns whether there is only one
blessing. What if that’s not true. In fact, Mayfield helpfully demonstrates
that Esau ultimately receives a blessing from his father. Later in the story,
when his brother returns from his sojourn, enriched with wives, children, and
other treasures, Esau warmly greets his brother even though Jacob fears the
wrath of Esau. Mayfield points out that often we Christians see ourselves as
purveyors of grace to others, but the story of Esau reminds us that we are
often recipients of grace from those who embrace religious traditions other
than our own. I know this to be true in my own life. The story reminds us that
God just may have more than one blessing to share! So, shouldn't we?
Mayfield’s
Father Abraham’s Many Children is a wonderful book. I loved reading
it. It’s accessible to the general reader but rooted in deep scholarship. It
looks back at ancient stories and yet in Mayfield’s handling of them, they
become relevant to this very moment. Indeed, at a time when Christian
nationalism is rampant, along with anti-immigrant sentiment, this is a book
that needs to be read widely. That is, this is not just a book for people like me
to read. I’m already committed to the conversation. However, this book can be a
wonderful conversation starter that can lead to the transformation of how we
see the other. After all, they may be Abraham’s children. So, I highly
recommend it. Since each chapter includes a set of discussion questions, the
book will make for a very useful book for a church study group. So, take and
read and discover new stories that can enrich our faith lives and enable us to
build relationships outside our normal circles!
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