Artist	Song
Mew	Chinaberry Tree
The White Stripes	White Moon
Rosie Thomas	Tomorrow
Turin Brakes	Above the Clouds
Des'ree	God Only Knows
Joanna Newsom	Inflammatory Writ
Bob Dylan	Highway 61 Revisited
Rogue Wave	Every Moment
Pernice Brothers	Saddest Quo
The Shins	Saint Simon
Califone	Michigan Girls
Mason Jennings	Which Way Your Heart Will Go
Belle & Sebastian	Is It Wicked Not to Care?
Andrew Bird	Trimmed and Burning (live)
Stew	Love Like That
Pink Floyd	Brain Damage
Nirvana	Dumb
Strength in Numbers	Future Man
Phil Keaggy	Metamorphosis
Bruce Springsteen	Reason to Believe
The Velvet Underground	After Hours

Comment:

God promised Abraham that his ancestors would outnumber the stars. And then He told Abraham to murder his son. A promise implicitly revoked, a possibility made impossible, a hope completely and utterly eviscerated.

And yet...

And yet, absurdly, Abraham believed.

Abe could have taken refuge in the possibility that it was a mere test, that God was ready to spare Isaac at the zero hour... but then Abe would not be the father of faith. His progeny would be that counterfeit of faith we know as hope.

Hope is rational. Faith is absurd.

Abe could have settled in the idea that God's promise would not be fulfilled, that his ancestors would not outnumber all the stars or even the solitary Polaris, but then Abe would not be the father of faith. His progeny would be that precursor to faith we know as infinite resignation.

Resignation is rational. Faith is absurd.

Abraham gave up all hope for this world. Abraham returned to this world with all the hope that he had irrevocably given up. In this paradoxical double movement, Abraham gave birth to faith.

Happy is the lauded tragic hero who inspires all with his universal sacrifice. Happier is the solitary knight of faith, who inspires no one with his incomprehensible sacrifice, who faces the dread and terror of complete individuality, who learns to rejoice in the world without its approval or assistance.

It is one way to live. Welcome to the religious life.

Mix #64, the contradiction, made in April of 2007. Based upon Kierkegaard's Fear and Trembling.

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