Episode 2. Hagar (Genesis 16 and 21)

The story of Hagar is the most well-known of the passages under consideration in this series. Hagar is the slave of Abraham and Sarah who is required to bear Abraham a son, Ishmael, as a solution to the couple’s childlessness. Usually this story is read as part of the wider story about how Abraham came to be the father of two nations, through his sons Isaac and Ishmael. Here Dr Katie Edwards seeks to read the story from the perspective of Hagar.