Comparing Kierkegaard's Fear And Trembling

The life of Abraham is one of varied geographical places as Abraham moves from place to place as well as an expedition through life's ups and downs with its challenges and disappointment. Abraham's spiritual life is also a journey, as he moves from periods of great faith to those moments of weakness and sin. Ultimately we find that Abraham, this man of faith, learned to trust in God as he traveled, not only from his home in Ur but as he journeyed towards faith.

To better illustrate and understand the perspective of our present age as to that of Kierkegaard’s, we must first examine what Kierkegaard meant by these four phenomena which he claimed plagued his society in 1840’s Copenhagen. We will start by analyzing his concept of reflection. This reflection isn’t one of idleness which Kierkegaard shows praise towards but to that of overthinking. Through reflection, man overanalyzes situations before him to the point of driving the

The ethical lifestyle is one of selflessness and commitment to the betterment of society. The universal is the enactment of the ethical. Man should strive to do the common good or that which benefits the most people. The ethical encompasses the laws that govern society (e.g. do not murder an innocent person). Although, Kierkegaard recognizes the inherent good in an ethical way of living, he still maintains that the religious should always take precedence. For example, people admire Abraham's story because very few people would have had enough faith to sacrifice their own son in terms of a religious outlook; with the ethical outlook it would be considered murder. With that in mind, God could ask one to contradict the ethical at anytime. Hence, men of faith, according to Kierkegaard, live a life of fear and trembling. Abraham represents perfectly how human beings should relate to God. The relationship between human beings and God is characterized by blind faith (sola fide). Abraham effaced his worldly understanding to adopt faith. Whether Abraham suffered or not is irrelevant because he did it for God. If God had asked one of us to do what Abraham had done, we would have runaway but he always said, "Here I am." He was a "knight of faith;" he had completed the stage of infinite resignation and had made the leap of faith into the absurd. What gives him

Many people would agree that without faith, the world would be in chaos. The book Christian Foundation by Kathleen Fischer and Thomas Hart gives an interpretation on faith in our time. Many people would question the definition of faith. Faith is a gift, which is given by God to have trust in him and belief in him. This book is a great entry in anyone's life that has speculation on his or her own faith. The book has many ways into understanding ones own religion. It discusses the Bible, Jesus, Church, God's existence and Images of God. All of these chapters helped me get a better interpretation of what my religion entailed.

When discussing faith is it important to look at the word closely and understand its meaning. The basic definition of faith is “confidence or trust in a person; and belief that is not based on proof” (Random House… 693). Whether someone puts their faith in a person or a religious being, faith can be simplified as having

Faith is something all humans want to believe they have. Faith can be religious, and everything in between. Faith gives people hope, especially in the darkest and hardest of times. In the memoir Night by Elie Wiesel, Eliezer experiences loss in his religious faith, questioning god and his quietness. Throughout the book, Eliezer's faith slowly diminishes as the years pass, wondering whether or not god will assist him in his times of need. Even the people who have the strongest faith, will question it in times of hardship

Abraham was instructed by God to take his son Isaac to the land of Moriah (New American Version, Gen. 22.2). As Søren Kierkegaard states Fear and Trembling, Abraham is a Knight of Faith because embraces his absurd condition, i.e. God asking him to sacrifice the son that He just gave Abraham, and is rewarded with Isaac being spared, save the traumatic experience of his father trying to sacrifice him. Since Abraham is a Knight of Faith and transcends earthly query, one cannot judge his character or claim to understand him as by doing such would make them pitiful or arrogant in the eyes of Kierkegaard (Kierkegaard 91). Abraham, in his moment of infinite resignation and probable uncertainty, decided to accept his absurd condition and live at ease with a paradox because he believed that God would not steer him

Since, faith is the paradox whereby the single individual’s inner ethical is higher than the outer universal ethical, therefore the single individual preforms the absolute duty to God. When the single individual carries out his absolute duty to God it can not be allowed to be interceded and thus the absolute duty cannot be understood nor communicated in the universal. If there was the possibility of faith being communicated than, this according to Kierkegaard would not be faith in its true essence, but rather simply religious trial.

Faith is the paradox that the single individual can rise above the universal (what is believed by the masses) (Kierkegaard, 84). If this is not the case, then Abraham is lost and "faith has never existed just because it has always existed (Kierkegaard, 85)." Kierkegaard accepts faith to be a category that is mostly subjective, because it cannot be forced to change. Mediation takes place by virtue of the universal and faith is above the universal (Kierkegaard, 89). Johannes believes Abraham could do it because he was blessed and was a friend of God. According to him, faith is not about observing. Friendship cannot be objective. Abraham's ethical relationship with Isaac is that the father should love the son more than himself (Kierkegaard, 58). According to ethical beliefs, Abraham should not kill Isaac. However, faith is greater than ethics. Johannes

Kierkegaard’s position on faith is represented with the Knight of infinite resignation and the Knight of faith. The Knight of faith is regarded as the one who believes in that which is absurd. For, he is the knight that is able to believe in the things that are

In his famous work Fear and Trembling, Kierkegaard declares that “no person has a right to delude others into the belief that faith is something of no great significance, or that it is an easy matter, whereas it is the greatest and most difficult of all things.” The difficulty of faith lies in the requirement of sacrifice. The story of Abraham’s near sacrifice of his beloved son, Isaac, is what Kierkegaard utilizes to demonstrate how costly faith in God is. Here is a man, who after seventy years of waiting for God’s promise of offspring finally received his son, is commanded by God to slay his promised son with no stated reason for doing so. Kierkegaard, in attempting to experience what Abraham might have experienced in those moments, cries, “Now all is lost, God demands Isaac, I shall sacrifice him, and with him all my joy – but for all that, God is love and will remain so for me.” What bold words! The cost

There is no philosophical individual if there is no leap towards word of mouth. Kierkegaard exemplifies such mocking rhapsodies in his piece “Fear and Trembling”. Scattered within are multiple insults shot at individuals whom he wills deserving of it. Breezily crucifying ill-mannered beliefs, and rendering hopeless their application, Kierkegaard makes his first deprecatory stop at the gate of objective and speculative philosophy. Objective thinkers are swerved by Kierkegaard as he states “ When a cellar-dweller plays this game everyone thinks it is ridiculous...ridiculous for the greatest man in the world to do it.” (Kierkegaard 32). A conclusion can be drawn that the philosopher sees objective values as a tool with which existence can be understood an incorrect and confusing fantasy for “who is to write or complete such a system ?” (Kierkegaard 29). Declaring the objective thinkers self-equating of one to the whole, a method attainable by any man and comical in his eyes. His criticism of the aforementioned scholars doesn 't stop here as he follows with a like-minded observation of objective Christianity. He preludes that individuals seeking to understand Christianity through objective evidence, are not true believers for “ Herein lies the scholar’s exalted equanimity as well as the comedy of his parrot-like pedantry.” (Kierkegaard 34) The man who attains faith in this manner must remain mindful of the dragon at the door which waits to devour it (Kierkegaard 35). Kierkegaard

Somewhat unsurprisingly, the meaning of subjectivity of truth was another point of contention. Hegel derived his opinion from history, noting that each successive generation changed where their knowledge came from thus making it’s origin fluid and unabsolute. Kierkegaard derived his opinion from within, another point of existentialism, and thought that truth was something an individual must discuss from within and be wholly passionate with the decision. Nevertheless, both resulted in the conclusion that truth is not absolute, but Hegel regarded the Truths of humanity with prominence, while Kierkegaard conversely regarded the truths of an individual as much more

So it is the HOW which is important to Kierkegaard, not the WHAT. The strongest example of his reasons for this comes in his

In order to attempt this sort of analysis, there are a number of factors that must be addressed first, with the most crucial being the understanding of Kierkegaard, his relevant works, and his Philosophy. Søren Aabye Kierkegaard was born in 1813 in Copenhagen to Ane Sørensdatter Lund Kierkegaard and Michael Pedersen Kierkegaard, the latter a pastor of the Danish National Church. According to Daniel Conway, a professor of Philosophy and the Humanities at Texas A&M, “although influential today for his diverse contributions to the fields of philosophy, theology, rhetoric, literary theory, and depth philosophy, Kierkegaard was widely known in his own day as a provocative social critic” (Conway 2015, 1). He was highly critical of the church in his hometown, and the Danish National Church in general, in addition to Christianity and what it meant for one to have faith in the almighty. Thus, much of Kierkegaard’s work deals with faith and Christianity to some extent, as seen with Fear and Trembling, the work that will be most heavily sourced within this thesis. Kierkegaard’s Fear and Trembling was written and published in 1843 under the pseudonym Johannes de Silentio. Kierkegaard often wrote and published his works under different pseudonyms, each often having some sort of significance to the work in which it is situated. The significance of the pseudonym of Fear and Trembling, according to the author of