Fear And Trembling Soren Kierkegaard

Fear and Trembling In Soren Kierkegaard’s Fear and Trembling, he writes under a false name of Johannes de Silentio to dive into the topic of religion. He uses the story of Abraham to discuss the differences between being a Knight of Infinite Resignation and a Knight of Faith. These two categories cover all the people who are in the world, past and present. Silentio is making the case that ultimately, everyone but Abraham falls into the category of Knight of Infinite Resignation. The reader is provided with multiple versions of the Abraham story to compare the details between each account. While they all might have some small differences between the stories, they all end up telling the same story of Abraham. Silentio describes the Knight of Infinite Resignation a man that “takes pleasure, takes part, in everything, and whenever one catches him occupied with something his engagement has the persistence of the worldly person whose soul is wrapped up in such things” (68). This quote is describing a person who is completely involved in all aspects of life, of both godly and worldly activities, but can also seem to be like a normal

While he is considered to be a great man of faith, others can see him as also a murderer. The second retelling of the story says, “Silently he arranged the firewood, bound Isaac; silently he drew the knife. Then he saw the ram that God had appointed. He sacrificed that and returned home…” (46). To Silentio, Abraham has committed a huge sin by saying yes to God that he will sacrifice his son Isaac. With this small confession, he has renounced his fatherhood, husbandship, and everything else that made him who he was. But also, at the same time, this is one of Abraham’s greatest achievements and the reason why he is considered to be a Knight of Faith. “Abraham acts on the strength of the absurd; he is higher than the universal. On the strength of the absurd he got Isaac back”