Fear And Trembling Kierkegaard

in this world, and they are effects derived from a cause. The effects in turn

In this text titled GOD by Simon Blackburn, the protagonist agues of beliefs and other things. I am going to argue that there does not exist a super or godlike being who is all good, all knowing, all powerful. (40 words)

To illustrate, Wiesel writes, “I was thinking of my father. He would be suffering more than I.” At this moment Wiesel had a connection with his father. Wiesel thought and cared for his father because that’s all he had, no mother, no sister, doubt in his God. His faith relied on the matter that he needed to have hope on his father to make it through the day. For instance, Wiesel claims, “Never shall I forget those moments that murdered my God and my soul…” Wiesel could not accept that his God had abandoned him. The horrors that he witnessed had him believe that his God let these terrors occur day after day, therefore it made sense to him that might not not have been a God. The years Wiesel had spent dwelling in his religion now didn’t matter to him, however it was at this time where he grew with his father and had his faith in humanity stored within his father. Wiesel’s reason for continuing lied in his father, no more with the God that had betrayed

door to death”(Wiesel 77).His faith in god’s plans for him kept him going initially , it kept many of the Jews going, when he lost it he gave up his life. With all the brutality around him, his faith remained pure and deflected his pain, but he couldn’t hold on to it above all, like the polish commander said. Faith was more impactful than family and fear, it gave people hope, and abated unnecessary fear.

For Kierkegaard’s opinion, he thinks it is more truth for “become a Christian” rather than “be a Christian”. Because in Kierkegaard’s era, it is easy to be a Christian. Just born and grow up in a certain society and accept baptism, go to the church. Because in 19th century, almost everyone born in a such environment that the whole society is Christian. Though, Kierkegaard thinks totally being a real Christian is impossible in a person’s life. It seems like a task that never be completed. The essence of “become a Christian” means renewing the relationship with God in every moment, at the same time, required their lives in pious way in every moment try to achieve their goal that being a Christian.

Johannes argues that the knight of faith acts in total isolation from everyone else. His relation to God is a private one, and cannot be justified by an appeal to the universal. Though it is noble for the single individual to aspire to the universal, God may call for actions that cannot be justified in the

Existentialism from a Christian standpoint during and after World War II found itself in a dilemma. In the face of their horrors and fears, they had to question God’s compassion, if not his very being. Their faith was put to a test that had been first expressed by the nineteenth-century Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard. Kierkegaard had contended that Christians must live in a state of torment caused by their own freedom of choice. To believe that God became incarnated as a human being (Jesus), they had to confront the fundamental Christian absurdity, that this is even possible. To believe in this requires an incredible leap of faith because its very illogicality means that all reason must be suspended. (Sayre, The Humanities 176).

Despair being a universal experience for all humans at one time or another raises questions of internal unhappiness as a cause of all despair that we place on other aspects of our life. Kierkegaard expresses how he believes that “the sickness of the soul” is something a human experience when their soul is not spiritually lifted. On page 272 he exclaims that the Christian ability to acknowledge the sickness and have the ability to detect this, being a product of a lack of spiritual stimulation, is “man’s advantage over the beast” and that the Christian man is better off than the “natural man”. Could any kind of belief system be as effective as Kierkegaard describes being Christian when it comes to healing a person who experiences “the

Kierkegaard is one of the defenders of God's existence, this author states that "true understanding of God is beyond our comprehension", because it exist in a "realm that is beyond time and space". He mentions Jesus as the son of God that came to form part of our human time and space and became a paradox. From Kierkegaard's view reality is relative and subjective, and even if believing in God might be seen as irrational is not impossible. This author claims a more idealistic approach and provides an important term which is the complexity of God for our human standards.

In his famous work Fear and Trembling, Kierkegaard declares that “no person has a right to delude others into the belief that faith is something of no great significance, or that it is an easy matter, whereas it is the greatest and most difficult of all things.” The difficulty of faith lies in the requirement of sacrifice. The story of Abraham’s near sacrifice of his beloved son, Isaac, is what Kierkegaard utilizes to demonstrate how costly faith in God is. Here is a man, who after seventy years of waiting for God’s promise of offspring finally received his son, is commanded by God to slay his promised son with no stated reason for doing so. Kierkegaard, in attempting to experience what Abraham might have experienced in those moments, cries, “Now all is lost, God demands Isaac, I shall sacrifice him, and with him all my joy – but for all that, God is love and will remain so for me.” What bold words! The cost

Kierkegaard’s ideas on the meaning of life are conveyed in his writings of Fear and Trembling. In the selection, Kierkegaard speaks of three different types of people in three different stages of life. The aesthetic man, the ethical man, and the knight of faith. Each man, having a different meaning in life during each stage, eventually reaching the ultimate meaning of life. In the following, I will explain how each of these men fit into Kierkegaard’s argument for taking a “leap of faith”, as well as explain Why Abraham’s life is a meaningful life based off of Kierkegaard’s argument.

The existence of God has been in question for as long as mankind has existed and thought logically. Many questions have plagued the human mind in regards to God, and there have been many arguments drawn with the hopes of proving the existence of a supreme being whom we know as God. The “God” question has been presented to every individual at some point in their lives. It is a topic that will bring forth never-ending questions and an equal amount of attempted answers. Many philosophers have formulated different rationales when examining the topic of God, some of which include how the word itself should be defined, what his role is in human existence, whether or not he loves us, and ultimately, if he even exists at all. Mankind cannot

A knight of faith is a person who lives life in a religious way. A knight of faith takes a leap of faith, but in the end, regains everything he lost when taking the leap of faith (Santurri p. 226). Abraham does take a large leap of faith when he murders his son; but he trusts that God has his best interest in the end. Abraham trusts that God is looking out for his best interest, and showing his loyalty will help him improve God’s relationship. The question is, did he regain everything he once lost while proving to God his loyalty? In my opinion, Abraham did not regain everything he lost when he murdered his son. A child is something that should never be sacrificed. As stated in Kierkegaard and Evans on the Problem

In Ingmar Bergman’s masterful film The Seventh Seal, Death grants knight Antonius Block a reprieve, sending Block on a quest to make a difference and find God in his waning time on Earth. Though Block cannot tangibly prove that God exists, he still believes that He is somewhere out in the world, and that he simply cannot find Him. Much like Jesus Christ from the Gospel According to Matthew, Block wants to do one more good deed in the world while enjoying the little positive moments he has left. And, in their final moments, both men feel disconnected from God. Antonius Block is similar to Jesus Christ in that both characters try to simultaneously maximize their time on Earth and feel connected to God, ultimately suggesting that faith gives a person meaning in his or her turbulent life.

Kierkegaard rejects the conventional concept of truth. According to him, “Truth is subjective”, “Subjectivity is truth” or “individual is a truth”. He quotes in Fear and Trembling “In order to swim one takes off all one's clothes--in order to aspire to the truth one must undress in a far more inward sense, divest oneself of all one's inward clothes, of thoughts, conceptions, selfishness etc., before one is sufficiently naked.” It means that one gains truth about oneself in a non- judgmental way by becoming aware of one’s own inner emotions, perceptions, thoughts and feelings.