Faith - Infinity & Finitude

Whether or not faith is something achievable, seems to be the main concern throughout Kierkegaard’s writing. It doesn’t just appear in relation to himself (or Johannes de silentio) but also to all people of this (or current) age/era. Kierkegaard regards the kind of faith Abraham demonstrates not as something that comes naturally or easily, but as something of greater doing or that of something miraculous. The notion of achieving infinity and finity as aspects of the individual who could be considered as truly faithful, as Abraham was, are incorporated into Kierkegaard’s description of such an individual (if one exists). Considering the perspective of the time Kierkegaard is writing, which is not that of the biblical time of Abraham, the kind of faith and devotion that Abraham exhibits is comparably foreign in it expression. Abraham’s act of sacrificing Issac out of faith is something that Kierkegaard delves so deeply into in relation to the probability and capability of those around him to embody and express such faithfulness in its entirety.

In Fear and Trembling, Kierkegaard is unable to know or find such an individual yet imagines they would be someone ordinary, someone not immediately suspected as one holding such true intention, such true depth and purity of faith in God. The description given of such a faithful person is depicted as someone unassuming, humble, a man of routine who appreciates all that passes him by; a simpleton almost, yet he refers to him as a knight. The person who achieves faith is one who moves and lives in infinity and finitude. “He constantly makes the movement of infinity, but he does it with such precision and proficiency that he constantly gets finitude out of it and at no second does one suspect anything else” (pg. 34). Would we even know if we were being called upon to act as Abraham acted and if so, could we demonstrate unwavering faith?

This movement of infinity which Kierkegaard calls knighthood, is the state of making something into that which has no limits; a moment that can live forever because it has been resigned, in a way given up, and in doing so, preserved. The absurdity somehow accounts for its possibility, this notion of infinity because it is not limited to the finite. I think. Faith and absurdity are the aspects of the individual who moves in infinity and in finitude. Finding peace with pain is something of a movement in way of infinity. To perform what is described as “infinite movement of resignation” is a freeing of the limit (finitude) which is what our possessing of something we love puts on it. In essence, to give up that which we love, allows us somehow to keep it, always, by relinquishing the limit of our possession of it. The faith part is in doing this without negotiation, without wavering, without struggle, but to relinquish the moment, person, possession, so that it can exist in the real sense, in infinity. The tough part is that we must first part with that which we love in order to truly have it. This is absurd and at this Kierkegaard marvels.

This concept ends up being described by Kierkegaard as a paradox which he later describes the problems of this paradox of faith found in relation to the story of Abraham.