Kierkegaard recounts a story about a man who grew up admiring the biblical narrative of Abraham and Isaac. As a child, he marveled at Abraham’s faith, but as he grew older, he found it increasingly difficult to understand.

Introduction

Kierkegaard concludes that Abraham’s silence was justified by his faith, which places the individual above the universal.

Kierkegaard illustrates this with the story of a young man deeply in love with a woman he cannot marry. A "knight of infinite resignation" would relinquish his love, accepting the pain of this sacrifice. A "knight of faith" however, would believe that, through God, he could still be with her in this life, regaining what he had surrendered. Kierkegaard admires those with faith but admits he lacks the courage to take the final step himself. While he knows faith exists, he struggles to understand how it is achieved and has never met a knight of faith.

He contemplates hypothetical scenarios like:Abraham might have explained God’s command to Isaac, pretending to be a murderous atheist to divert Isaac’s anger toward himself rather than God.Abraham might have sacrificed the ram but lost his faith afterward.He could have gone up the mountain alone, seeking forgiveness for breaking his sacred duty as a father.Yet, none of these possibilities captures the essence of Abraham’s experience, leaving the man unable to comprehend Abraham fully.

The second problem asks if there is an absolute duty to God. Kierkegaard asserts that while ethical duties are universal, faith involves a personal, absolute connection to God. This absolute duty transcends ethical norms, as shown in Abraham’s inability to explain his actions to others. Attempting to articulate them would have exposed him to temptation. The path of faith, Kierkegaard argues, is lonely and fraught with fear, unlike the path of a tragic hero, who finds resolution and universal praise.

The Second Problem

To Kierkegaard, Abraham is the "father of faith," a title earned through his unwavering trust in God. When God commanded Abraham to leave his life behind and venture into the desert, he obeyed, trusting in God’s plan. Even when God promised him and Sarah a son despite their old age, Abraham believed, and his faith was rewarded with the birth of Isaac.

The Father Of Faith

The final problem examines whether it was right for Abraham to withhold God’s command from Isaac, Sarah, and Eliezer. While silence can be ethically problematic, Kierkegaard argues that Abraham’s silence was necessary, as faith is incomprehensible to others. He contrasts Abraham’s holy silence with examples of silence driven by temptation, such as a man who hides the reason for breaking off his engagement to protect his fiancée or a mythical merman who hides his love for a human to avoid causing her harm.

The Third Problem

Kierkegaard reflects on society’s relationship with faith. He wonders if humanity has advanced to the point of forgetting the struggles of faith or if each generation must begin anew. Faith, he argues, remains the most significant and difficult human endeavor, and while not everyone achieves it, life is filled with challenges and pursuits worth undertaking. Faith, like love, is a lifelong journey, and those who reach it embody the paradox of regaining everything they have given up.

Ending

The highest passion of man is faith. Many in every generation may not come that far, but none comes further.

Kierkegaard explores three problems to emphasize the significance of faith. Problema I: Is there a Teleological Suspension of the Ethical?Problema II: Is there an Absolute Duty to God?Problema III: Was It Ethically Defensible for Abraham to Conceal His Undertaking from Sarah, from Eliezer, and from Isaac?

Three Problems

Kierkegaard compares Abraham to tragic heroes like Agamemnon, who sacrificed his daughter for the greater good. Unlike Agamemnon, Abraham’s actions served God’s will and his personal faith, making him a paradoxical figure who defied universal ethics.

However, Abraham’s faith faced its greatest test when God asked him to sacrifice Isaac. Despite the immense difficulty of this command, Abraham prepared to obey, taking a three-and-a-half-day journey to Mount Moriah. While the story often emphasizes God’s intervention to stop the sacrifice, Kierkegaard argues that Abraham’s greatness lies in his journey and willingness to break universal ethical rules to fulfill God’s will.

Kierkegaard critiques the modern world for its tendency to focus on the outcomes of stories, neglecting the struggles and journeys that precede them. He applies this criticism to Abraham’s story, arguing that modern readers fail to grasp the depth of Abraham’s faith and suffering.

Kierkegaard identifies two crucial steps to achieving hope through faith. The first is the infinite resignation, where one gives up everything, enduring immense pain. The second involves regaining what was given up in a way that seems impossible.

Two Steps To Achieve Hope Through Faith

The first problem addresses whether there is ethical uncertainty from a teleological perspective. In ethics, the universal dictates that individuals conform to general rules. Faith, however, creates a paradox in which the individual transcends the universal while remaining part of it. Abraham’s actions, therefore, cannot be universally explained; they are either a demonstration of profound faith or an act of murder.

The First Problem

Full Summary of Fear and Trembling by Søren Kierkegaard

In our time nobody is content to stop with faith but wants to go further. It would perhaps be rash to ask where these people are going, but it is surely a sign of breeding and culture for me to assume that everybody has faith, for otherwise it would be queer for them to be . . . going further. In those old days it was different, then faith was a task for a whole lifetime, because it was assumed that dexterity in faith is not acquired in a few days or weeks. When the tried oldster drew near to his last hour, having fought the good fight and kept the faith, his heart was still young enough not to have forgotten that fear and trembling which chastened the youth, which the man indeed held in check, but which no man quite outgrows. . . except as he might succeed at the earliest opportunity in going further. Where these revered figures arrived, that is the point where everybody in our day begins to go further.