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    Briefly: Kierkegaard's Fear and Trembling
    Briefly: Kierkegaard's Fear and Trembling
    Briefly: Kierkegaard's Fear and Trembling
    Ebook119 pages1 hour

    Briefly: Kierkegaard's Fear and Trembling

    By David Mills Daniel

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    Fear and Trembling is one of Kierkegaard’s earliest works, which he wrote under the pseudonym Johannes de Silentio. Kierkegaard had been a student of theology in Copenhagen, and had come to hate the Danish Church. He produced hundreds of leaflets against the Church during his lifetime. However his writing was largely ignored, and he was not a popul
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSCM Press
    Release dateJan 8, 2013
    ISBN9780334048398
    Briefly: Kierkegaard's Fear and Trembling

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      Book preview

      Briefly - David Mills Daniel

      Briefly:

      Kierkegaard’s Fear and Trembling

      The SCM Briefly series

      Anselm’s Proslogion and Replies

      Aquinas’ Summa Theologica Part I

      Aquinas’ Summa Theologica Part II

      Aristotle’s Nichomachean Ethics

      Ayer’s Language, Truth and Logic

      Descartes’ Meditation on the First Philosophy

      Hume’s Dialogues concerning Natural Religion

      Hume’s Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding

      Kant’s Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals

      Kant’s Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason

      Kierkegaard’s Fear and Trembling

      Mill’s On Liberty

      Mill’s Utilitarianism

      Moore’s Principia Ethica

      Nietzsche’s Beyond Good and Evil

      Plato’s The Republic

      Russell’s The Problem of Philosophy

      Sartre’s Existentialism and Humanism

      Briefly:

      Kierkegaard’s

      Fear and Trembling

      All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, SCM Press.

      © David Mills Daniel 2007

      The Author has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the Author of this Work

      The author and publisher acknowledge material reproduced from Søren Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling, ed. C. S. Evans and S. Walsh, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, revised edition, 2006,

      ISBN 0521612692.

      Reprinted by permission of the Cambridge University Press.

      All rights reserved.

      British Library Cataloguing in Publication data

      A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

      978 0 334 04130 6

      First published in 2007 by SCM Press

      9–17 St Alban’s Place,

      London N1 0NX

      www.scm-canterburypress.co.uk

      SCM Press is a division of

      SCM-Canterbury Press Ltd

      Typeset by Regent Typesetting, London

      Printed and bound in Great Britain by

      Bookmarque Ltd, Croydon, Surrey

      Contents

      Introduction

      Context

      Who was Søren Kierkegaard?

      What is Fear and Trembling?

      Some Issues to Consider

      Suggestions for Further Reading

      Detailed Summary of Søren Kierkegaard’s Fear and Trembling

      A Dialectical Lyric by Johannes de Silentio

      Preface

      Tuning Up

      A Tribute to Abraham

      Problems

      A preliminary outpouring from the heart

      Problem I: Is there a teleological suspension of the ethical?

      Problem II: Is there an absolute duty to God?

      Problem III: Was it ethically defensible of Abraham to conceal his undertaking from Sarah, from Eliezer, from Isaac?

      Epilogue

      Overview

      Glossary

      Introduction

      The SCM Briefly series is designed to enable students and general readers to acquire knowledge and understanding of key texts in philosophy, philosophy of religion, theology and ethics. While the series will be especially helpful to those following university and A-level courses in philosophy, ethics and religious studies, it will in fact be of interest to anyone looking for a short guide to the ideas of a particular philosopher or theologian.

      Each book in the series takes a piece of work by one philosopher and provides a summary of the original text, which adheres closely to it, and contains direct quotations from it, thus enabling the reader to follow each development in the philosopher’s argument(s). Throughout the summary, there are page references to the original philosophical writing, so that the reader has ready access to the primary text. In the Introduction to each book, you will find details of the edition of the philosophical work referred to.

      In Briefly: Kierkegaard’s Fear and Trembling, we refer to Søren Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling, edited by C. Stephen Evans and Sylvia Walsh, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006, ISBN 0521612692.

      Each Briefly begins with an Introduction, followed by a chapter on the Context in which the work was written. Who was this writer? Why was this book written? With Some Issues to Consider, and some Suggestions for Further Reading, this Briefly aims to get anyone started in their philosophical investigation. The Detailed Summary of the philosophical work is followed by a concise chapter-by-chapter Overview and an extensive Glossary of terms.

      Bold type is used in the Detailed Summary and Overview sections to indicate the first occurrence of words and phrases that appear in the Glossary. The Glossary also contains terms used elsewhere in this Briefly guide and other terms that readers may encounter in their study of Kierkegaard’s Fear and Trembling.

      Context

      Who was Søren Kierkegaard?

      Søren Abaye Kierkegaard was born in Copenhagen in 1813. His father, Michael Pedersen Kierkegaard, then 57, though successful and wealthy, was tormented by the belief that his seven children would die young, because he had once cursed the name of God. In fact, two of his children (Søren was one) survived, and Kierkegaard got on well with his father, despite the latter’s unhappiness. Kierkegaard showed intellectual promise, both at school and at the University of Copenhagen, which he entered in 1830, to study theology. In the late 1830s, he fell in love with Regine Olsen, but then broke off his engagement to her, for reasons that are not clear; he seems to have gone on loving her for the rest of his life. After receiving his doctorate in 1841, Kierkegaard opted for the life of an independent scholar and writer, rather than becoming a minister in the Danish State Church, as his father had wished. His focus on the implications of religious belief and a relationship with God for the individual led him to reject the prevailing Hegelian philosophy (see Glossary) of the period, while his preoccupation with the individual, individual choice and despair mean that he is regarded as the first existentialist (see Glossary) thinker and writer. His views, and the vigorous way he expressed them, drew him into a lengthy dispute with the Danish Church, which he severely criticized for its hypocrisy and lack of religious vitality. His books include Either/Or (1843), Fear and Trembling (1843), Philosophical Fragments (1844), The Sickness unto Death (1849) and Practice in Christianity (1850). Due to the range of his perspectives on issues, he wrote a number of books under pseudonyms, such as Johannes Climacus and Johannes de silentio, so as to dissociate himself from the views expressed in them. He could then criticize them, and take up opposing views, if he wished. He always believed that his books would be widely studied after he died, and they have been a major influence on both theistic and non-theistic philosophers and theologians, such as Paul Tillich, Martin Buber and Jean-Paul Sartre. In 1855, Kierkegaard collapsed in the street, dying a month later.

      What is Fear and Trembling?

      Fear and Trembling appeared in 1843, and the writer is named as Johannes de silentio. Today, it is accepted that Kierkegaard’s use of pseudonyms should be respected, and that it is a mistake to try to reconcile all the various elements of his thinking on theology and philosophy, found in his many writings. Below, Johannes, rather than Kierkegaard, is referred to as the author of the book.

      The book (Dialectical Lyric) begins with a lament about the contemporary relationship of religious faith and doubt. In the past, faith has been valued, and sustaining it has been seen as a priority. But now it has become fashionable, not only to doubt, but to doubt everything. People justify their doubt by referring to Descartes, but he had not doubted just for the sake of doing so, but to find an absolutely secure base for knowledge and belief in God’s existence. But what does it mean to have faith? Johannes (Tuning Up) pictures someone, who is not a clever intellectual, but who does not wish to go beyond faith, and who has reflected on the story of Abraham all his life. He admires Abraham’s total faith in God, and, whenever his own faith is tested, realizes anew how great Abraham was, and how hard it is to understand his degree of faith. He feels he would like to accompany Abraham on his journey to Mount Moriah. However, Johannes suggests a number of scenarios, in which Abraham turns out not to be a man of faith. He might doubt God’s command, and try to convince Isaac that the whole episode is his own crazy idea, so Isaac will not blame God. He might doubt God’s command, and become permanently depressed by the whole experience. He might be forever tortured with guilt about his willingness to sacrifice his own son. He might convey his own doubts to Isaac, and destroy Isaac’s faith.

      In fact, none of these scenarios occurs. On Mount Moriah (A Tribute to Abraham), Abraham’s faith does not falter. Despite being tested so severely, he remains an exemplar of faith, as he has been throughout his life. His faith in God has taken him from the comfort of his own country, and made him a foreigner in the promised land. God has told him that he will be the forefather of many generations, and he goes on believing it, despite the fact that, realistically, he and his wife, Sarah, are far too old to

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