Fear and Trembling

Fear and Trembling

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Fear and Trembling

Fear and Trembling (original Danish title: Frygt og Bæven) is an influential philosophical work by Søren Kierkegaard, published in 1843 under the pseudonym Johannes de Silentio (John the Silent). The title is a reference to a line from Philippians 2:12, "...continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling."

Fear and Trembling presents a highly original and provocative interpretation of the Binding of Isaac story as told in Genesis Chapter 22, and uses the story as an occasion to discuss fundamental issues in moral philosophy and the philosophy of religion, such as the nature of God and faith, faith's relationship with ethics and morality, and the difficulty of being authentically religious.^[1]^[2]

Summary
Themes
References

English translations
Online references

See also
External links

Summary

The work begins with a meditation on the faith of Abraham when he was commanded by God to sacrifice his son Isaac.^[3] Silentio gives four alternative re-tellings in which Abraham fails the test of his faith and contrasts them with his own interpretation of the story of Abraham and the faith therein demonstrated. Silentio professes to admire Abraham's faith, but he is utterly incapable of comprehending it.

Following the Preface and Prelude, there is a Panegyric Upon Abraham and a series of three Problemata, which address three specific philosophical questions raised by the story of Abraham's sacrifice.

Is there a teleological suspension of the ethical? (That is, can Abraham's intent to sacrifice Isaac be considered "good" even though, ethically, human sacrifice is unacceptable?)
Is there an absolute duty to God? (In other words, beyond that which is ethical)
Was it ethically defensible for Abraham to have concealed his purpose from Sarah, Eleazar, and Isaac?

Themes

In Fear and Trembling Kierkegaard introduces the "Knight of Faith" and contrasts him with the "knight of infinite resignation". The latter gives up everything in return for the infinite, that which he may receive after this life, and continuously dwells with the pain of his loss. The former, however, not only relinquishes everything, but also trusts that he will receive it all back, his trust based on the "strength of the absurd".

For Kierkegaard, infinite resignation is easy, but faith is founded in the belief in the absurd. The absurd is that which is contradictory to reason itself. For Abraham, this faith in the absurd manifests itself in Abraham's belief that he would kill his only son but he would nevertheless receive him again in his lifetime. Silentio's opinion is that what separates Abraham from being a killer is his faith. (In the end of the Genesis 22 story, an angel stops Abraham at the last moment. A ram appears which Abraham takes as a sign from God, and he sacrifices the ram instead of Isaac.)

An important theme is the conflict between theology and philosophy. According to Kierkegaard, mid-19th-century secular philosophers laughed at faith and saw no mystery in the story of Abraham while professing to find Hegel's philosophy exceedingly difficult. Kierkegaard, however, thought that understanding Hegel was possible (if difficult), but trying to comprehend why Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son caused him to be "virtually annihilated".

References

English translations

Silentio, Johannes. Fear and Trembling, edited by Sylvia Walsh and C. Stephen Evans. (2006)
Silentio, Johannes. Fear and Trembling, edited by George Steiner. (1994)
Silentio, Johannes. Fear and Trembling, edited by Alastair Hannay. (1985)
Silentio, Johannes. Fear and Trembling, edited by Howard and Edna Hong. (1983)
Silentio, Johannes. Fear and Trembling, edited by Walter Lowrie. (1941)
Silentio, Johannes. Fear and Trembling, edited by Robert Payne. (1939)