Fear and Trembling Summary | Chapterly
Fear and Trembling by Soren Kierkegaard: A Complete Summary "The knight of faith knows it is inspiring to give up oneself for the universal... But he also knows how glorious it is to get Isaac again." Overview Fear and Trembling (1843) is Kierkegaard's meditation on the nature of faith through the biblical story of Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son Isaac. Written under the pseudonym Johannes de Silentio, it explores what it means to have faith - genuine, individual, terrifying faith. The Story of Abraham God commands Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, his beloved son. Abraham obeys, travels to Mount Moriah, binds Isaac on the altar, and raises the knife. At the last moment, an angel stops him. What kind of faith is this? Not a comfortable, reasonable faith, but something incomprehensible and terrifying. The Teleological Suspension of the Ethical Normally, ethics is the highest authority. Murdering your child is absolutely wrong. But Abraham subordinates ethics to a higher telos (end) - his absolute duty to God. "The ethical expression for what Abraham did is that he meant to murder Isaac; the religious expression is that he meant to sacrifice Isaac." This cannot be mediated through universal ethical principles. It's a...