Isaac

In the Christian tradition

Isaac is the long-promised son of Abraham and Sarah, born in their old age (Genesis 21). The binding of Isaac in Genesis 22 (the Akedah) is one of the most theologically weighted texts in the Hebrew Bible; Christian tradition reads it as a prefiguration of the sacrifice of Christ.

The Akedah, the near-sacrifice of Isaac on Mount Moriah in Genesis 22, has been read in Christian theological tradition since the patristic period as the principal Old Testament prefiguration of the sacrifice of Christ. Irenaeus, Augustine, and many other Christian writers develop this typology. The figure himself is the second patriarch through whom the covenant descends from Abraham through Jacob to Israel. The name has been in continuous Christian use across the centuries and remains common in modern Christian families.