Recently I have begun to explore the philosophy of Danish Soren Kierkegaard and the many thoughts on God and religion that he had. Right now I have begun to read his famous work Fear and Trembling, written in 1843. Kierkegaard wrote on a great variety of different subjects and has been classified as an existentialist, post-modernist, individualist, and mystic all rolled into one, but in Fear and Trembling he tackles the specific issue of faith and obedience, bringing up some very interesting thoughts and arguments.
Kierkegaard frames his arguments in Fear and Trembling by using the example of Abraham sacrificing his son Isaac at the command of God, only to be later ordered to spare his son at last minute. Kierkegaard gives this as an example as one of the greatest acts of faith ever recorded, but also emphasizes how huge this act really was. Not only was Abraham being ordered to sacrifice his own son, a painful command in and of itself, but he was essentially being ordered by God to do something completely outside of the nature of God. By sacrificing Isaac, Abraham would not only be killing his own son, but he would also essentially be destroying and going against everything that he ever understood about God. Despite this, Abraham stood true to the very end, having faith that God would prove to be faithful.
This story and illustration is compelling enough, but what really peaked my interest in this passage was Kierkegaard's account of his own struggles with this story. Kierkegaard doesn't merely gloss over the story like a Sunday school lesson for grade schoolers, but instead tackles the maddening paradox that this passage embraces. How could an all knowing, all powerful, all loving God order his faithful servant to do something that would be completely contradictory to His own nature? Kierkegaard stood perplexed. He states that he has studied various aspects of complicated philosophy and understands it fairly well but when confronted with a story that many Christian children learn in grade school, he is confused and very doubtful. He comes to the point where he says that all he knows is that he believes that God is loving in the end and that we can only admire Abraham and his rock hard faith, despite all the paradoxes woven throughout.
I think what spoke greatly to me was that Kierkegaard was so honest about his inner conflict with belief and doubt and shows that it is completely normal, even for famous philosophers. Often times I feel that I, along with other believers, are afraid of having doubts and feel that it is a weakening of our faith, but Kierkegaard states to the contrary. Rather than doubt being the erosion of faith, it instead tries and solidifies it. If anything, it is very comforting to see that even the greatest philosophers and thinkers of our time dealt with sin, doubt, and faith just like the rest of us.
