The Concept of Faith

A knight of Faith, in Kierkegaard’s Fear and Trembling, acts without questions, or hesitation, independently from the norms and ideas of society with belief in him or herself because the actions he/she participates in is believed by the individual to be a duty set out by God.

In the story of the man and the princess, the man of infinity believes that he should be with the princess, but he gives up on her and believes that they can be together in another life or world, which is absurd on the finite plane. On the other hand the knight of faith feels almost exactly like the knight of infinity although he believes that he will be with her in his lifetime. It seems as if the knight of faith has hope in the romance even though he is not with the princess. The knight of infinity has belief in God and God alone; while the knight of faith has belief in himself and in God, which may be what faith is.

Faith is also brought up in the story of Abraham and Isaac. Abraham’s duty was to sacrifice his son, Isaac. Abraham went on to faithfully execute his duties without hesitation, without saying anything to anyone, and as he was about to sacrifice Isaac, an angel came out and rewarded Abraham with his son back.

This story is a paradox: if killing is a sin, which was even made into a commandment, then why would Abraham follow the voice of God, who told him to kill his son? This is a question of doubt, and in doubt there is no faith. In the story Abraham did not question himself, and he didn’t even reach out to anybody else with what to do in this absurd predicament. Abraham faithfully followed what he had been told to do, and absurdly (rationally impossibly) he was rewarded his son back thanks to an angel. Whether this story is a poetic metaphor for Abraham believing that he still has his son in imagination land, or whether he became conscious of what he was doing and didn’t kill his son because of an angel he may have seen; Abraham was still willing to fulfill his duty.

The concept of faith, according to Kierkegaard is a paradox because firstly the man/woman has to believe in infinite resignation, which is the strength to give up everything finite; but at the same time believe that the impossible is possible. It seems as if faith is another word for hope. Although in the story of Abraham and the man it seems as if Faith is also confidence in oneself.

Whatever faith may be, it seems to shares the following qualities:

1) Indifference to the norms and ideas of society

2) Belief in God

3) Belief in oneself

4) The ability to give every finite noun up

5) The confidence/ability/courage to take action