God commanded him to sacrifice his only son, after. Abraham, childless after 80 years, prays for a son. Kierkegaard argues that abraham s faith in god was a faith that god wouldnt really make abraham kill isaac. Fear and trembling is an indepth and challenging look at the old testament account of abraham s willingness to sacrifice isaac to god. May 24, 2017 jeffrey hanson, kierkegaard and the life of faith. Soren kierkegaard is one of the towering christian existential thinkers of the midnineteenth century. From this beginning fear and trembling becomes an exploration of the faith that transcends the ethical, as in abrahams willingness to sacrifice his son isaac at gods command.
This core concept video focuses on soren kierkegaards fear and trembling. This is followed by a eulogy, where kierkegaard explores how abraham became the father of faith, despite being a humble man who didnt expect to. Soren kierkegaard, fear and trembling the ethical expression for what abraham did is that he meant to murder isaac. If abraham had not had enough faith, he would have refused to kill his son. Kierkegaard uses this story to illustrate strong faith. A summary tommy maranges abraham more like abroham was a fucking badass. Fear and trembling cambridge texts in the history of philosophy kindle edition by evans, c. Kierkegaard wanted to understand the anxiety that must have been present in abraham when god tested him and said to him, take isaac, your only son, whom you love, and go to the land of moriah and offer him as a burnt offering on the mountain that i shall show you. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading kierkegaard. When god told abraham to kill his son, in genesis chapter 22, abraham intended to obey god.
Mary was a knight of faith because she volunteered to have jesus. Oct 08, 2019 in fear and trembling soren kierkegaard asks us to look at the story from genesis of abraham being asked by god to sacrifice his son isaac. It is here in fear and trembling that kierkegaard introduces his concept of faith by virtue of the absurd. Hegel would say no, kierkegaard, johannes, and abraham would say yes. The opposite of doubt is faith, and kierkegaard had long been fascinated by the story of the old testaments abraham, the father of faith. Abraham is not only a man of resignation resolve, but is the father of faith, the supreme example of faith against the absurd. No consideration of the akedah, or the sacrifice of isaac, would be complete without considering the comments of the great danish philosopher, soren kierkegaard 181855. He was no skeptic philosopher see preface to fear and trembling. Fear and trembling reinterpreting kierkegaards take on. Kierkegaards fear and trembling edited by daniel conway. Fear and trembling is soren kierkegaards meditation on the meaning of one fathers sacrifice of his own son, a story told in the book of genesis. Learn exactly what happened in this chapter, scene, or section of fear and. In order to do so, kierkegaard centers his existential exploration of christianity on the figure of abraham, who is called by god in genesis 22 to sacrifice his son, isaac.
In the rest of fear and trembling, kierkegaard examines his four. But abraham, according to kierkegaard, believed in the impossible, in the paradox and the absurd. This aspect of the interpretation of abraham offered in fear and trembling suggests that, far from being an individualist, kierkegaard regards human relationships as. Mar 29, 2010 kierkegaard s point in fear and trembling is not to recommend blind faith in god, but to unsettle his readers blind faith in themselves. Learn exactly what happened in this chapter, scene, or section of fear and trembling and what it means. Abrahams faith allowed a teleological suspension of the ethical. The parables of problem iii in kierkegaards fear and trembling. Fear and trembling recounts the three day journey of the biblical abraham to mount moriah, where god has seemingly requested he go in order to sacrifice his son isaac as an offering. The aesthetic, the ethical, and the religious in fear and trembling, indiana university press, 2017, 264 pp.
In fear and trembling, kierkegaard follows kant in emphasising that abrahams decision is morally repugnant and rationally unintelligible. Everything may be had at such absurdedly low prices that very soon the question will arise whether any one cares to bid. A summary of eulogy on abraham in soren kierkegaards fear and trembling. That which cannot be rationally explained or justified in any way, and which transcends all human and intelligible possibility.
In kierkegaards fear and trembling and in nietzsches on the genealogy of morals, each philosopher sets. Soren kierkegaard stanford encyclopedia of philosophy. Isaac begins to question his own faith due to abrahams refusal to do what god commanded. Soren kierkegaard abrahams story and faith philosophy. Most scholars today therefore respect kierkegaards. The story is familiar, perhaps all too familiar as kierkegaard notes. Kierkegaards idea of faith has less to do with traditional ideas on the christian god and more to do with unconditional commitment, which he lays out in his masterpiece fear and trembling. While kierkegaard does highlight abrahams faith, this faith is quite unlike more popularly accepted understandings of the term. But his perplexity about abraham motivates the reader to question the tooeasy identification of faith with adherence to any human communitys status quo. In his book fear and trembling, kierkegaard discusses the inner conflict abraham faced when he was commanded by god to sacrifice his son isaac as a burnt offering on mount moriah. Written from the perspective of an unbeliever, fear and trembling explores the paradox of faith, the nature of christianity and the complexity of human emotion.
Kierkegaard wants us to understand that abraham is heroic not in an abstract sense, but in that this level of faith is something we should all aspire to. Fear and trembling is about the sacrifice taken place in genesis regarding abraham whom he calls the father of faith and isaac. That which people generally forget in the story of abraham is his fear and anxiety. Soren kierkegaard fear and trembling tom butlerbowdon. From the perspective of an unbeliever, fear and trembling explores the paradox of faith, the nature of christianity, and the complexity of human emotion. Kierkegaard uses abraham as the exemplar of the limitations of the hegelian system. Thirty years later, god orders abraham to kill his son. Fear and trembling kierkegaard eulogy on abraham part 2 according to kierkegaard in the first chapter of fear and trembling, abrahams faith was tested and maintained in the prolonged wait for his promised successor, but the hardest test was yet to come.
However, he also shows that one consequence of kants view is that, if nothing is higher than human reason, then belief in god becomes dispensable. Sep 19, 2018 this core concept video focuses on soren kierkegaard s fear and trembling. Fear and trembling reinterpreting kierkegaards take on abraham. For this deed, abraham is normally acknowledged as the father of faith, but in this day and age, johannes remarks, no one is content with faith. Fear and trembling begins with a preface and an exordium that introduces the reader to the story of abraham and isaac. Kierkegaard argues that abrahams faith in god was a faith that god wouldnt really make abraham kill isaac. That is to say, he seeks to challenge their complacent. Although abraham understood that god must be obeyed, he also understood that child sacrifice was immoral, and hence his struggle represented the collision between.
Abraham prepares to kill isaac, but at the last second god spares isaac and allows abraham to sacrifice a ram instead. Abraham s faith allowed a teleological suspension of the ethical. See eighteen upbuilding discourses for the kind of action. Fear and trembling is an interpretation of abrahams sacr. This is followed by a eulogy, where kierkegaard explores how abraham became the father of faith, despite being a humble man who didnt expect to become anything great. The story has become part of europes and therefore, americas intellectual vernacular and, as it is most frequently retold, has. Abraham as an example of a person who took a leap of faith.
Soren kierkegaard is an excellent philosopher, i disagree with many of his points on christianity, but i understand where he is coming from. Kierkegaard believes abraham is the father of the notion of religious. A response to the sacrifice of isaac aaron hollander 07 in fear and trembling, soren kierkegaard tells of his lifelong fascination with the account of abraham and isaac in genesis 22. Kierkegaard claims that the killing of isaac is ethically wrong but religiously right. While fear and trembling treats the genesis story seriously, but this is not a work of biblical exposition. Kierkegaard ultimately decides that abraham is either lost and cannot be mediated or he is then a knight of faith. Each work uses as a point of departure kierkegaards breaking of his engagement to regine olsen his sacrifice of that single individual. Kierkegaard wanted to understand the anxiety that must have been present in abraham when god tested him and said to him, take isaac, your only son, whom you love, and go to the land of moriah and. Fear and trembling centers on the biblical story of abraham. In his book fear and trembling, kierkegaard conflated abraham s intentions with his motivations. The hegelians claim to have arrived at the eschatological. Kierkegaard argues that had abraham chosen at that point to end his own life over his sons he would have been remembered as an admirable man, but not as the father of faith but as yet anot her tragic. The knight of faith is an individual who has placed complete faith in himself and in god and can act freely and independently from the world. Fear and trembling by soren kierkegaard nehedsitement.
Kierkegaard examines the biblical story of abraham, who was instructed to sacrifice his son isaac, and forces us to consider abrahams state of mind. Does abrahams a of nonethical interpretation described above. Criticism is mixed with regards to this particular writing of kierkegaard. Kierkegaards fear and trembling in logical perspective jstor. Much of fear and trembling turns on the notion that abrahams. The present paper suggests to consider kierkegaards use of abrahams story in fear and trembling in regulative terms, that is, to consider it as a model not for our moral behaviour but rather for our religious behaviour.
He hoped to problematize what he felt were overly simplistic and uncritical interpretations of christianity. Fear and trembling raises more questions than it provides answers. In his book fear and trembling, kierkegaard conflated abrahams intentions with his motivations. In the rest of fear and trembling, kierkegaard examines his four retellings of the story of abraham, focusing on the religious and the ethical. To do so, i first rely on recent literature to argue that kierkegaard should be regarded as a distinctively post. God commanded him to sacrifice his only son, after promising him descendants more numerous than the stars, and he obeyed faithfully. Kierkegaard examines the biblical story of abraham, who was instructed to sacrifice his son isaac, and forces us to consider abrahams. A summary of problema i in soren kierkegaard s fear and trembling. The term appears in fear and trembling to describe the movement of faith abraham makes to regain isaac.
This is a classic work of existentialist literature and philosophy, and focuses upon the figure of abraham and the. Abraham became a knight of faith because he voluntarily lifted the knife to sacrifice isaac. In kierkegaards fear and trembling, the story of the near sacrifice of isaac serves to undermine the idolatrous identification of god with a cultures values, even. Review of kierkegaard and fear and trembling does not believe that this trust in god is misplaced. Among his many books are training in christianity, sickness unto death, and fear and trembling. The story has become part of europes and therefore, americas intellectual vernacular and, as it is most frequently retold, has become somewhat pedestrian. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. Fear and trembling cambridge texts in the history of philosophy. Perfect for acing essays, tests, and quizzes, as well as for writing lesson plans. While his literary style was experimental, his writings call for christian morality. To do so, i first rely on recent literature to argue that kierkegaard should be regarded as a distinctively postkantian philosopher. A summary of eulogy on abraham in soren kierkegaard s fear and trembling. Introduction not only in the world of commerce but also in the world of ideas our age has arranged a regular clearancesale.