In Eliade's book, The Myth of the Eternal Return, he describes why the concept of faith is unique to the Judaeo-Christian spirituality. Child sacrifice was a common practice that was expected from the gods. Typically it was a way to regenerate the gods; the young sacrifice would contribute new energy to an aging god. In Abraham's case, Isaac was a gift of God. Sarah was unable to have children and well past child bearing. Abraham believed God would provide a son for him and God delivered one. In the ancient mind, to sacrifice a fulfilled promise did not make sense. So Abraham trusted God and went through the sacrifice. Faith is a new concept that is attributed to Abraham and why the scriptures describe Abraham as having faith in Yahweh and it was accredited to him as righteousness. Eliade is saying that the custom of child sacrifice was a custom and to sacrifice a "Son of God" was unique. Notice a lamb was sacrificed; fast forward to Jesus and we see a the Lamb/Son of God was sacrificed for us. Even for us today, this is an act of faith. We believe in something we cannot see nor make sense of (until after the Holy Spirit comes into our lives).
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