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Problema 1
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Fear and Trembling, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Belief vs. Doubt
Faith and the Absurd
Infinite Resignation
The Unintelligibility of Faith
Summary
Analysis
For the second problema, Johannes begins by stating that the ethical is the universal, but it’s also part of the divine. Therefore, all duty is duty to God even when it doesn’t directly involve God (such as the duty to love one’s neighbor). Hegelian philosophy declares that the outer is higher than the inner, but faith says the inner is higher than the outer. In the realm of ethics, the individual is expected to externalize their sense of duty, but the paradox of faith states that there’s a type of interiority that incommensurable with the exterior. Johannes reiterates that through the paradox of faith the individual is higher than the universal and explains that the individual creates their relationship with the universal through the “absolute.” Because of this there is an absolute duty to God, and the ethical becomes relative. If this isn’t the case, then Abraham should be condemned.
Johannes notes that Hegelian philosophy says the outer is higher than the inner. The reason for this is that what people do externally can be seen and has a direct impact on other people; hence what people do is generally considered more important that what they feel or think (both of these are internal experiences). That is why ethics demands that people focus their energy on their external actions, because these actions make a real impact in the universal. Faith, however, does the opposite—it declares that the internal is higher than the external. This is because motives are internal, because they are part of thought and feeling. For example, Abraham’s motives were based in faith, and this should save him from condemnation for his external actions (raising the knife to sacrifice Isaac).
Themes
The paradox of faith can’t be mediated because as soon as the individual wants to express their duty in the ethical or universal, they become aware that they’re being tempted. For this reason, Abraham wouldn’t have been able to make anyone else understand him. If someone asked him why he must sacrifice Isaac, Abraham would have had to admit that it’s both a temptation and a trial. Abraham’s sacrifice is both endlessly selfish and an expression of pure devotion to God. Because faith can’t be mediated in the universal, Abraham can’t make anyone understand him. Unfortunately, a knight of faith can’t even make themselves understood by another knight of faith—even if they try to share their story in universal terms, neither can be sure that the other is telling the truth.
Because faith is higher than the universal, there is no way to mediate faith-based actions in universal terms to make them intelligible to others. When a knight of faith tries to mediate their actions into the universal, they have to use universal terms like “temptation,” which has a lot of negative connotations even to a knight of faith. For this reason, it’s better that Abraham and knights of faith don’t even try to make themselves understood in universal terms; unfortunately, this increases their sense of isolation.
Themes
Johannes brings up a verse in the Gospel of Luke in the New Testament which says that anyone who doesn’t “hate” their entire family can never be a disciple. Johannes says people like to soften the verse by swapping “hate” for “give less priority to.” Johannes, however, believes the verse should be taken literally. While God can (and does) demand “absolute love,” any person who thinks that demanding love from someone means that person must become cold to everyone else they love is a fool. There is another paradox that can be seen in Abraham’s story. Once Abraham is ready to sacrifice Isaac, the ethical says that Abraham hates him. But if Abraham really hated Isaac, then God wouldn’t have asked Abraham to sacrifice him. Abraham loves Isaac, so the sacrifice occurs once Abraham’s actions contradict his feelings. Still, the universal says Abraham’s a murderer.
Johannes has previously mourned the fact that people don’t pay enough attention to the more distressing parts of Abraham’s story or other Bible verses and stories. Part of the reason Johannes wants to take this passage from Luke literally is that he doesn’t want people to try to sugar-coat or look over powerful, albeit uncomfortable, verses and stories from the Bible. In Abraham’s story, he must almost simultaneously love and hate Isaac—love Isaac enough that killing him really will be a sacrifice, but (ethically speaking) hate him enough to kill him. This is what the passage from Luke could mean: sometimes to prove faith (to be a disciple), a person must seem to hate their family from an ethical perspective.
Themes
Johannes points out that even if it’s the “Church” that demands something of a person, whatever they do only makes them a tragic hero because the “Church” belongs to the universal; a knight of faith acts on something higher (faith). Johannes also notes that there’s a popular misconception that living and acting as the individual (particular) rather than the universal is easier, and that those who do will waste their lives away on base pleasures. This is actually the opposite of the truth—to live as the individual is scary and isolating, although people who know this also know its greatness. In fact, a true knight of faith knows that it is wonderful to be part of the universal and understood by everyone. However, they also know that there is a higher path, and the higher they climb, the less other people understand them.
When Johannes refers to the “Church,” he means formal, organized religion. The Church, then, is a product of the universal; indeed, it is typically dominated by temporal politics and subject to universal ethics. This is why a command from the Church is not the same as a command from God, and belief in the Church is not the same as faith in God. Johannes writes that the further up the path of faith a person travels, the more difficult it is for other people to understand them and the more isolated they become.
Themes
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Like a knight of faith, Abraham must have known how secure, inspiring, and glorious it must be to make sacrifices for the universal. In fact, Johannes theorizes that Abraham likely wished that God had asked him to love Isaac instead of to sacrifice him, or even to sacrifice Isaac for the greater good so Abraham could inspire others. However, Abraham would have recognized these thoughts as temptations and kept walking. Johannes points out that it took Abraham 70 years to get Isaac, and in all that time his faith never wavered—but then God gave Abraham a new test, and he knew he wouldn’t be able to explain it to anyone. Johannes emphasizes that this is what makes Abraham’s story so terrible; anyone who can’t see that is certainly not a knight of faith.
Johannes again sends the message that being guided by the universal is easier than being guided by faith and leaping into the absurd. Even the act of killing Isaac would have been easier to Abraham if he knew that he was doing something for the greater good rather than something that would be unintelligible to everyone else around him. There are many things that make Abraham’s story terrible, but the fact that he was so alone in his actions, and that he couldn’t even make his family understand him, is one the most horrifying things Abraham must have faced.
Themes
A tragic hero’s struggle is painful, but quick. When they’re finished, they can find comfort in the universal that praises their actions. The knight of faith, however, doesn’t have this comfort. They are constantly aware that they can return to the universal (a temptation), and so are constantly in a state of tension. A knight of faith can direct all of the ethical that they violate into one thing; if they can’t do this, then they are actually in a state of temptation. A tragic hero does something similar, but they can resort to the universal whereas a knight of faith cannot. Agamemnon prepared to sacrifice Iphigenia, took comfort in the universal, and then sacrificed her. However, Abraham couldn’t turn to the universal. Instead, he made one more movement and concentrated his soul on the “marvel.”
Johannes has previously mentioned that a knight of faith is following a path, but it’s a lonely, scary, and isolating path. At any point, however, the knight of faith can jump off the path of faith and rejoin the universal. The reason this is a temptation is that it would be easier and more comfortable. They could make themselves understood and not feel so lonely. However, they would lose the security of faith, which says that, on the strength of the absurd, literally anything is possible. The “marvel” is the miracle of God giving Isaac back to Abraham.
Themes
It’s ultimately up to the individual to determine if they’re a knight of faith or just in a state of temptation. However, they might realize they’re a knight of faith if they are always in total isolation. This is something a false knight would never be able to endure, and they might even try to cheat their way into greatness by joining up with other false knights, but it will all be for naught. A knight of faith knows that other people will never understand them and has no interest in teaching others the way to faith. This is because the knight of faith knows other people don’t need sympathy or to be sold faith because truly great things are already available to everyone equally. Johannes concludes that there must be an absolute duty to God as he’s explained it, or else Abraham can and should be condemned.
Earlier in the book, Johannes talked about the possibility of someone deciding to sacrifice their own child to prove their faith after hearing Abraham’s story. This is an example of someone who is simply in a state of temptation; even though they say they’re acting on faith, they’re not a true knight of faith. Furthermore, a knight of faith can’t teach another person how to be one also. This is because faith itself can’t be expressed in universal terms—it is an entirely personal experience, which is also why it’s isolating. It’s something that people have to be willing to work towards themselves, unaided by anyone else.
Themes
