Rob Bell and Abraham's Faith

I saw Rob Bell speak at "The gods aren't angry tour" in Chicago. I loved the entire teaching and was especially impacted by the context he set for the old testament. He painted the picture that the world is trying to appease the gods by continual and increasingly terrible forms of sacrifice (human). There was a constant concern that you did not know where you stood with the gods. The sacrificial system that YHWH brings - Rob says - was a truly progressive system, one that allowed you to know where you stood with this God. That was revolutionary - according to Rob.

Rob then applies this context to the story of Abraham being told by God to sacrifice his son. Abraham agrees to and almost does sacrifice Isaac. However, human sacrifice was common in that age so Abraham was just doing what was a cultural norm. Therefore, this story isn't about Abraham's faith but God's progressive, revolutionary sacrificial system. Rob points out that many preachers have wrongfully used this story to point out Abraham's great faith. Rob says this idea is not the point. Rob said,

"And sometimes there are Christians that are like, 'See! Abraham man of faith.' .... Ok, somebody help me out here, um, this is good? 'I'll show my son.' That's a religion I want to be a part of. What's that about? Put that on a flannel graph. See, we often hold this up as, 'ooo see, Abraham proved he was a man of faith.' But anyone in the back row - if they are even still there - are saying, 'the testing was if you'd offer your son.' Anyone with a conscience would say, 'No, I'm not [going to sacrifice my son]! Is there a door number two?' The story is not about Abraham. Now, there are many references to Abraham being a great man of faith... and it was credited to him as righteousness and such... but... perhaps the story is not about what Abraham is like... perhaps the story is about what God is like."

This is very interesting and I have a question. What are we to do
with the passage in James 2:21-22?

Was not our brother Abraham justified by works when he offered his son on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was brought to completion by the works.

Or when the writer of Hebrews says in 11:19 says that Abraham "assumed God would raise Isaac from the dead"! (See: Dan Kent's Blog

It seems that James and Hebrews see it is important to note Abraham's faith in
the Isaac sacrifice story. What do you think? What should we take from this? Is this a both/and situation? Is the story about Gods revolutionary approach to knowing where we stand AND is it about Abraham's faith? What should we take from Rob's perspective?

I think this is a good reminder to make sure the entire bible signs on
to a contextual, historical perspective.