About the book
Written under the pseudonym Johannes de silentio, Søren Kierkegaard's meditation on Genesis 22 takes up the scene where God commands Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac and Abraham prepares to obey. The work argues that Abraham cannot be understood through rational ethics, including Hegel's universal moral system, and that only faith, a category beyond the ethical, can account for him. It opens with four retellings of the binding of Isaac and a eulogy on Abraham, then contrasts the knight of infinite resignation with the knight of faith. Three Problemata follow, including the teleological suspension of the ethical and the question of an absolute duty to God. The work shaped modern Protestant theology and existentialist thinkers such as Sartre and Camus.
David Heinemeier Hansson, in his 2018 reading roundup, described it as a long and at times obtuse meditation on faith and doubt by an existentialist who, unlike the atheists Sartre and Camus, was obsessed with faith.
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This book has 1 recommendation
David Heinemeier Hansson (Co-Founder/Basecamp)
While most of the 20th century existentialists, like Sartre and Camus, were devout atheists, Kierkegaard is an existentialist obsessed with faith. Fear and Trembling is a very long, and at times obtuse, meditation on the topic of faith and doubt. It uses the story of Abraham and Isaac to contrast the ideas of faith and humanism. Kierkegaard is in awe of Abraham’s faith and how it compels him to sacrifice Isaac, and he uses that to interrogate the topic of faith in general.
I found the theological acrobatics employed by Kierkegaard a bit strained, to say the least. But it was a fascinating read none the less, and Kierkegaard’s language and metaphors and incredible depth is inspiring. I’m keen to give this a read in the original Danish form.
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