TOGETHER THEY WALKED: THE AQEDAH, MIDRASH AND SYNODALITY

Abstract

Genesis 22, otherwise known as the Aqedah, has drawn and continues to draw the curiosity of many readers over the ages, not only for the theme of child sacrifice but also for the drama involved in the near-filicide. The ancient rabbinic Midrash in the witnesses of Genesis Rabbah and Rashi has varying interpretations of the passage. The difference in the interpretations between the Genesis Rabbah and Rashi on Gen 22:6,8, which speak of the father and son walking together, constitutes a platform for the signs, intricacies, and tensions of synodality as a theme, model and demand of the future Church. What implications does the verbal phrase, ‘walking together’ have for communion, participation, and mission in the Church? If walking together implies unity of purpose, does it signify singularity of comprehension? What are the lessons to be learnt by the twenty-first century Church? These are the concerns of this article.