How Did Kierkegaard Choose Abraham As The Perfect Example Of Faith

A summary, analysis and discussion of Søren Kierkegaard, Training in Christianity[1] I. Introduction In this essay, I will try to summarize, analyze and discuss several pages of Søren Kierkegaard’s Training in Christianity. I will try to focus on his approach to sacred history, a general Christian history and Christianity, which he discusses in this work in relation to faith in God. In other parts of this essay I will attempt also to relate these pages of his work to some key ideas of Kierkegaard’s theology and philosophy and support this with some concrete quotations from the text. In the end I will very briefly compare different philosophies of Hegel and Kierkegaard and try to relate Kierkegaard’s work to a few topics, which

Abraham’s seriousness and dedication in regards to his covenant with God control tense actions and events between Abraham and Isaac. Abraham is compelled in his actions by his understanding and faith that his belief in God will reap benefits. Without hesitation, he considers doing everything that God tells him to do. Abraham’s willingness and sacrifice of Isaac show the great power that God has over Abraham. Abraham’s desire for God’s approval and blessings compel him toward grave actions without the concrete command from God. Abraham merely implies God’s intentions from the limited conversations held between Abraham, God, and the angel.

In Søren Kierkegaard’s book, “Philosophical Fragments” he first prefaces his writing by explaining his own inadequacy to do so. It is his desire to deliberate upon the actuality of truth and it’s application to the human existence, but in order to do so, he deemed it necessary to admit that “What is offered here is only a pamphlet...without any claim to being a part of the scientific-scholarly endeavor…” (Preface 1 IV 176). Near the end of his preface Kierkegaard, in efforts to convey his intent to write without bias, claims he will not share his opinion (IV 178).

Once the reality of the self is solidified, the next question is of what to do, or of ethics. George Stack argues that, to Kierkegaard, by choosing the ethical, people have begun to create themselves (Stack 145). Therefore it is within the logical progression for Kierkegaard to describe ethics next. As Kierkegaard examines the story of Abraham and Isaac, he illustrates issues of morality and ethics as he attempts to defend faith. Kierkegaard addresses the ethical problem of the story in the form of his four "Problematas", where Kierkegaard defines the ethical as "the universal, and as the universal it applies to everyone" (83). When one goes outside of the universal, he sins (83). Throughout Fear and Trembling, Kierkegaard discusses, through the person of Johannes de Silentio, ethical questions regarding Abraham's relationship with God as well as his relationship with Sarah. These questions are the questions that Kierkegaard uses to illustrate what faith in modernity looks like, and without these ethical problems there would be no springboard for which Kierkegaard could jump into his concept of

In the 11th century, Spanish Rabbi Yona Ibn Janach wrote that God only wanted a symbolic sacrifice; He didn’t actually want Abraham to kill Isaac. Many rabbis claimed that God would never command such a horrific act. Others also note that Abraham was willing to do anything to spare his son. He was even willing go against the divine command. In addition, although it was God gave Abraham the orders, it was an angel, a subordinate being in the holy hierarchy, that stopped him. In a few later Jewish writings, the idea of God’s test of faith is rejected, and the sacrifice of Isaac is seen as a punishment for Abraham's previous "mistreatment" of his oldest son, Ishmael, who he kicked out at his wife’s request. However, this theory is rather misleading because the Bible states that God agreed with Abraham’s wife and actually insisted that Ishmael leave. Moreover, Rabbi Menachem Mendel said that, “as great a Mitzvah as it is, this test is considered trivial for someone of the spiritual stature of Isaac,” (Gen. Rabba 47:6), who represented the godly traits of kindness, strictness, and compassion. The one truly tested was Abraham in order to see whether or not he would doubt God's words. Remarkably, Abraham believed with faith, that this is what God was telling him to do now, this must be the right thing to do. Some Jewish scholars, such as Lippman Bodoff, believe that Abraham was never really going to sacrifice his son because he actually had faith that God never intended to go through with it. In this theory, Abraham's compliance was in fact his way of testing

Kierkegaard believes that true faith can only be attained through a double movement of giving up rationality or logic, while at the same time believing one can understand logically. In “Fear and Trembling” Kierkegaard relates true faith to the Knight of infinite resignation and the Knight of faith; in this

Nietzsche and Kierkegaard are both considered to be the top existentialists for solely different reasons, as well as being very different from each other. They have different philosophies when it comes to their thoughts on religion and it is important to see exactly how they line up in this regard.

Blindness The bible says the god of this world has blinded the minds of people (2Corinthians.4: 4). Did you know that there is a possibility that a person can be blind to see something that is right in front of him? I am not talking about a physically blind person.

“Why did God choose Abraham’s family?” This was a question from eight year-old, Caleb Abney. He asked me this question at the end of our Sunday school lesson entitled “God’s Promise.” The question was profound to me because I never thought about why God selected Abraham to become heirs of

In his work Fear and Trembling, Søren Kierkegaard suggests that there could be a teleological suspension of the ethical. This paper attempts to disprove that suggestion. Throughout Fear and Trembling, Kierkegaard provides multiple examples that highlight the existence of the teleological suspension of the ethical, faith. However, in each instance, the right analysis can turn his examples into cases of the universal or particular.

Hebrew Bible Paper - Abraham      Abraham stands as one of the most important figures in the Hebrew Bible, and is central to the understanding of God’s solution to the problem of mankind. Man, the mysterious creature that God wraught as a semi-experiment, is constantly prone to believe he is self-sufficient and capable of survival without God, the central problem God must deal with in the Hebrew Bible. To solve this problem, God decides to strike fear in the heart of man and to revolutionise his lifestyle by creating laws and empowering a chosen group of people, who will spread the word of God by example. These people are the Hebrews, and Abraham is the father of their race, the man from whom all

What is faith? Faith is something different to everyone. If you asked a hundred different people, it is possible that you would get many diverse answers. Religious faith and non-religious faith are two very distinct terms. Faith holds an extremely complex meaning when discussing it in the context of religion. Faith is a belief. That holds true to every religious and non-religious person. Every faith involves a decision. It is not about what we claim to believe, but what we actually do believe, that is true faith. Throughout this paper, I am going to discuss Christian faith, how it pertains to daily life and Christianity as a whole. I also intend to delve into George W. Forell's discussion of Christian faith and analyze and

Kierkegaard and Wittgenstein The connections between Ludwig Wittgenstein and Soren Kierkegaard as philosophers are not at all immediately obvious. On the surface, Wittgenstein deals with matters concerning the incorrect use of philosophical language and Kierkegaard focuses almost exclusively on answering the question 'how to become a Christian'. But this account belies deeper structural similarities between these men's important works. Thus, this paper suggests that their methods, rather than exclusively content, contain a strong parallel on which a natural and hopefully fruitful examination of their work can be based.

Kierkegaard was born in the early 18th Century to a wealthy family in Copenhagen and he died at the tender age of 42 in 1855. Kierkegaard’s life was rather ordinary however, it is fair to say his work is quite remarkable. Today Kierkegaard is widely known as a philosopher, theologian, poet, social critic and a prolific religious author. It is without doubt that Kierkegaard’s ‘Fear and Trembling’ is a remarkably difficult yet worthwhile and insightful to read. In ‘Fear and Trembling’ Kierkegaard discusses the extremely controversial topic of what exactly faith is. Kierkegaard was a huge influence on other writers since the nineteenth century for example Ludwig Wittgenstein. Wittgenstein once said Kierkegaard was ‘by far the most profound thinker

In Kierkegaard’s “Fear and Trembling”, we are presented with the views of Soren Kierkegaard, Friedrich Hegel and Kierkegaard’s pseudonym, ‘Johannes de Silentio’, in regard to the story, “The Binding of Isaac” and how Abraham’s religious beliefs made him sacrifice his son, which went against the rules of the ethical at that moment in time. We must ask ourselves, is it ever justifiable to commit an act that goes against a universal set of ethical rules in order to pursue an individual relationship with God – a relationship that takes priority over the ethical?