Abraham and the Knight of Faith - "Problemata: Preliminary Expectoration" - From "Fear and Trembling" by Soren Kierkegaard

Problemata: Preliminary Expectoration 

Kierkegaard begins with a reflection on the proverb "'Only the man who works gets the bread'". He says that in the secular world this is not really always the case, as it lives by trickery and not necessarily merit. In the spiritual world, though, it is true and other adages like it because it is the divine order. "Here an eternal divine order prevails, here it does not rain on both the just and upon the unjust, here the sun does not shine both upon the good and upon the evil, here it holds good that only he who works get the bread, only he who was in anguish finds repose, only he who descends into the underworld rescues the beloved, only he who draws the knife gets Isaac." 

Misunderstanding the Abraham and Isaac Story

And yet another worldly adage seeks to impose itself on the spiritual world, that only great deeds matter. 1 There many can miss the depth of the story of Abraham. Many are not willing to put the effort into understanding the story. It is very easy to say that Abraham gave his best to God, that is why is great. But this is too easy and they miss something. "What they leave out of Abraham's history is dread; ...to the son the father has the highest and most sacred obligation." But it is not comfortable for many to consider dread, so they leave it out. And so to those who think deeper on these things, it is not enough to simply equate Isaac with the best because "...the profoundest tragic and cosmic misunderstanding lies very close", and say that hearer tries to do this on his own son. 2 The orator would go to the man and scold him for his madness, while at the same time being astonished at his own preaching. And the man responds to him that what he did was what the orator preached on Sunday for him to do. The orator did not know what he was saying when preaching on Abraham and Isaac. Now if the man is convinced that what he did was mad, then the orator may feel proud that he roused such enthusiasm but then also curbed it. But if the man does not listen to the orator, he would be put to death or sent away as insane. 3 

Dread From the Tension of the Ethical and the Religious

But why is it that when Abraham did the act it was considered great, but when another man does it, he is considered insane? Well if it was not faith that changed the nature of the act, then Abraham deserves to be condemned as well. "The ethical expression for what Abraham did is, that he would murder Isaac; the religious expression is, that he would sacrifice Isaac; but precisely in this contradiction consists the dread which can well make a man sleepless, and yet Abraham is not what he is without this dread." It is only in the tension between Abraham's love and duty, and the faith by which God calls him to rise to some other type of level of consideration, that Abraham's greatness lies. We must be honest in these considerations. If there is some cultural or temporal excuse to justify his actions, then forget the whole event. 4 

Faith is more difficult than we give credit for

But should one be afraid to speak about Abraham that people will copy what he did? Or to speak about the emotions of love without weaker people falling prey to misunderstanding? No, it is only faith that makes such things holy, and faith that requires true greatness. Abraham was called and elected by God for this. He had the deepest possible love for his son. His acts were not done out of lesser motives. 5 It is not lacking to not be called as Abraham was in such grave matters of this type of faith. Faith is not easy, nor can we just hold on to others who have it. "It is supposed to be difficult to understand Hegel, but to understand Abraham is a trifle. To go beyond Hegel is a miracle, but to get beyond Abraham is the easiest thing of all." 6 

For Kierkegaard it is not Hegel that perplexes him, but Abraham. It paralyzes and annihilates him. How can one put oneself in Abraham's shoes as one might another heroic figure in society? "...but into Abraham I cannot think myself; when I reach the height I fall down, for what I encounter there is the paradox." Faith is something which is at the pinnacle here, not something lowly. Nor should philosophy disparage this as though it were foolish or nothing. One can be courageous or have virtue, but this is not supernatural faith. "I cannot shut my eyes and plunge confidently into the absurd, for me that is an impossibility...". 7

Love Versus Faith

Kierkegaard then makes a distinction between love and faith. He knows God's love and it brings joy to his life, but he does not dare say that he has faith or the joy that comes from true faith. Faith demands every little detail of life. What if one puts themselves in Abraham's shoes, as if it happened yesterday? Kierkegaard says that he would go through with it as required. 8 And yet the "prodigious resignation" with which he would have gone through with it with, he says, is not faith. But this would be a selfish act of testing oneself, as he would not love Isaac like Abraham did. It was only the immense love that Abraham had that made what he did not a crime. Abraham believed the whole time that God would not allow this. He had to hold on the the absurd, that which human reason cannot comprehend. "All that time he believed - he believed that God would not require Isaac of him, whereas he was willing nevertheless to sacrifice him if it was required. He believed by virtue of the absurd; for there could be no question of human calculation, and it was indeed the absurd that God who required it of him should the next instant recall the requirement. He climbed the mountain, even at the instant when the knife glittered he believed ... that God would not require Isaac." 9

Could not God bring back Isaac from the dead? This human reason cannot grasp onto, but faith can. "...to be able to lose one's reason, and therefore the whole of finiteness of which reason is the broker, and then by virtue of the absurd to fain precisely the same finiteness -- that appalls my soul..." . This is the greatness of faith. It does not consider itself, but considers God. It doesn't cling to itself and one's own understanding, but God. "... for he who loves God without faith reflects upon himself, he who loves God believingly reflects upon God." 10

First Movement of Faith - Infinite Resignation

Kierkegaard says that this faith is different from just saying, "Oh I don't need to worry about this yet." or "who knows what will really happen." It is the first movement of faith to let go of all of these considerations into "infinite resignation". Yet, true faith does not just consider the infinite, it also is brought back to consider the finite. It follows the absurd with the belief that the finite will also be taken care of. [I have to be honest, I am not fully sure that I am understand Kierkegaard here. He did not really explain the meaning of infinite resignation. What I seem to understand is that true faith doesn't just place every resolution into Heaven, but expects a resolution on earth here too?] 11

The Knight of Faith

Here Kierkegaard introduces the idea of the "knight of infinite resignation" and the "knight of faith". The knight of infinite resignation are on the path and can be easily recognized as such. But it is the knight of faith that often seems from appearances to be the opposite of what he is. Kierkegaard has never found a true knight of faith, but if he did he would do anything to stay by his side. This man would look completely normal as well. It would seem that such a person would exude the divine, but no, he does not. 12 Rather, the man indulges in worldly enjoyments and acts worldly like everyone else in his routines. The man seems to be all things to all people. A poet, a postman, a chef, an engineer, etc. 13 "He lives as carefree as a ne'er-do-well, and yet he buys up the acceptable time at the dearest price, for he does not do the least thing except by virtue of the absurd." 

The knight of faith has given up the world, he has renounced everything and accepted its sadness. And yet he also knows the bliss that awaits in eternity. And so he is able to enjoy the finite with a lightness by which he is never bogged down. "...the whole earthly form he exhibits is a new creation by virtue of the absurd." 14 The knight of infinity goes back and forth between being on the right path and not. "...to express the sublime in the pedestrian - that only the knight of faith can do - and this is the one and only prodigy." 15 By way of example of a young man falling in love with a princess Kierkegaard illustrates that to be a knight of faith one must set one's whole life on one desire, not be torn in different directions. 16 Then he will focus himself completely in his consciousness on that of eternity. 

[In Kierkegaard's continual insistence that the denial of life for the eternal must lead back to the fulfillment of life reflects Hegel's notion of the historical dialectic and man's alienation. If there are times that involve suffering, war, evil, strife ... all these are part of the denial of the thesis, and in the end the anti-thesis will bring a resolution to things.] 

"Love for that princess became for him the expression for an eternal love, assumed a religious character, was transfigured into a love for the Eternal Being, which did to be sure deny him the fulfilment of his love, yet reconciled him again by the eternal consciousness of its validity in the form of eternity, which no reality can take from him." In other words, unfulfillment in life can become a type of spiritual fulfillment if it is reconciled within the person. 17 And in a way these new spiritual fulfillment is more perfect than the temporal goods which are fleeting and bound by space and time. The true knight does not need anything outside himself when he has resigned things to eternity. 18 Infinite resignation brings peace to life and can only be done for oneself, by oneself. 19 

"The infinite resignation if the last stage prior to faith, so that one who has not made this movement has not faith; for only in the infinite resignation do I become clear to myself with respect to my eternal validity, and only then can there be any question of grasping existence by virtue of faith."  

The Third Act of Restoration and the Movement Toward the Absurd for the Knight of Faith

If one be a true knight of faith then when resigns the word and authentic desire to impossibility one can then proceed towards the absurd in the belief that one is actually receive it. "The absurd is not one of the factors which can be discriminated within the proper compass of the understanding: it is not identical with the improbable, the unexpected, the unforeseen." But how could one do this when it is an impossibility? Here lies faith. "'I believe nevertheless that I shall get her, in virtue, that is, of the absurd, in virtue of the fact that with God all things are possible.'" 20 Embracing the absurd can only come about when one knows its impossibility. But is this not tempting God? Nevertheless this is the movement toward faith. 21 

The first act towards infinite resignation is a philosophical act which is in the power of man to make. "...but it is needed when it is the case of acquiring the very least thing more than my eternal consciousness, for this is the paradoxical." But it is faith that is needed to embrace the absurd and to receive back, for faith in a reception not the renunciation. 22 23 Then in faith all is restored to the one that they resigned. "... thus to live joyfully and happily every instant by virtue of the absurd, every instant to see the sword hanging over the head of the beloved, and yet not to find repose int he pain of resignation, but joy by virtue of the absurd - this is marvelous." Kierkegaard points out that his generation is not content to stop at the stage of faith but is always looking for something more, ashamed of it. 24 But Kierkegaard cannot, for some reason, make that last step himself. And so this stage must be some kind of election by God. 25 

Concluding

The Abraham story is not easy. It is not how we usually read it or hear about it preached; it is so much deeper than that. "Let us then either consign Abraham to oblivion, or let us learn to be dismayed by the tremendous paradox which constitutes the significance of Abraham's life, that we may understand that out age, like every age, can be joyful if it has faith." 26 

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1 - Kierkegaard, Soren. Fear and Trembling and The Sickness Unto Death. trans. Walter Lowrie. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1973. Pg. 38

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