Kierkegaard's Knight of Faith in Fear and Trembling

Introduction: Faith as an Inner State

In his philosophical classic Fear and Trembling, the nineteenth-century Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard conceptualizes faith as an inner rather than an outer state of being, thinking, and feeling. The philosopher retells the story of Abraham and Isaac from a variety of perspectives, stressing that the "real" Abraham acted as he did with absolute faith that God would save his son — unlike the false Abraham of resignation, who believed that God was going to take his son, though he must nonetheless obey God's terrible will. Kierkegaard suggests that a person who was not "of faith" would either refuse or comply only in despair. The resigned person might commit to sacrificing Isaac with sorrow in his heart, believing his son was doomed. But the true man, or "knight" of faith, Kierkegaard argues, knows inwardly — both emotionally and intellectually — that God will find a way to save the son, even while apparently asking the impossible and the unethical of the patriarch. For Kierkegaard, faith is therefore not simply an external act of obedience. True faith is a joyful and internal act of adhering to God's request for obedience, whatever that request may be — even if it appears unethical on its surface.

Kierkegaard uses the example of Abraham sacrificing Isaac because he sees the Biblical patriarch as an excellent illustration of a man who appears to be about to sin outwardly, yet does so with goodness in his heart. In modern life, he observes, it is hard to differentiate the good from the bad: "The knights of the infinite resignation are easily recognizable — their walk is light and bold. But they who carry the treasure of faith are likely to disappoint, for externally they have a striking resemblance to bourgeois philistinism, while infinite resignation, like faith, deeply disdains."^[1] On the surface, it is nearly impossible to distinguish the knights of infinite resignation from the knights of faith. Only the heart and God can tell.

The Knight of Faith Versus the Knight of Infinite Resignation

Kierkegaard openly admits that he himself is a knight not of faith but of resignation — he would have been afraid, as would most fathers. But Abraham was a knight of infinite faith. Abraham joyfully consigned himself to obey God's spoken will, even if adhering to this request cast him out of his social community and even out of his own conception of what is ethical. Kierkegaard thus distinguishes the "Knight of Faith" from the "Knight of Infinite Resignation" by the faithful knight's willingness to engage with God's demands from a hopeful heart — to accept the absurdity and occasionally unethical character of existence. Abraham obeys not through mindless, robotic motion, but through great mental and emotional strength, consciously deciding to act against his personal and social ethical code. Unlike the resigned knight who despairs and sacrifices Isaac, the Knight of Faith is brave in a different and more profound way.

As Paul Strathern explains in Kierkegaard in 90 Minutes, a truly faithful knight adheres to some impossible or absurd goal — in this case, God's command that Abraham sacrifice his son. It is here that Fear and Trembling sets forth Kierkegaard's concept of "faith by virtue of the absurd." Abraham is not only a man of resignation and outward obedience. It would be meaningless for Abraham to obey in his sacrifice with blind will and no belief in God. But because Abraham obeys with the correct inner mindset, he becomes a kind of father of faith — of internal rather than external faith. By obeying with the right sort of mind, he becomes the supreme example of faith, even while engaging in seemingly absurd actions.^[2]

Faith by Virtue of the Absurd

Kierkegaard's choice of Abraham from the Bible rather than from modern life is characteristic of much of his work. Kierkegaard often disguised his own authorship by adopting multiple pseudonyms and plural viewpoints that were, on the surface, frequently contrary to his own beliefs. In Fear and Trembling, for instance, he begins by taking his own position — that of the fearful, resigned Abraham — in order to contrast his modern perspective with the perspective of the true knight of faith, who sets out to sacrifice Isaac with a quiet soul and a happy heart, unlike the heavy heart of Kierkegaard himself.^[3]