In a mere four verses, we have described the creation of an entire people and the establishment of a radically new kind of relationship between humanity and divinity. The "call of Abram" does more than separate a lone herdsman from his ancestral family. This "call" separates the old animistic, anthropocentric notions of the universe from a remarkably new way of viewing the divine/human or creator/creation relationship.

In the other popular, ancient Near Eastern religions, the numerous "gods" behaved in highly human ways. Despite a host of divinities, these religious systems were human-centered: The gods themselves behaved as people do, with human loves, hates, concerns, grievances, reactions. Yet while these gods were highly "personified," they were deficient in meaningful personal relati…