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A review by kaaleppii
Fear and Trembling: A New Translation by Søren Kierkegaard
4.0
This book loses a star for poor formatting on Kindle in spite of claiming to be “new.” I also wouldn’t recommend it to everyone as I found it quite dense, and definitely had to skim several parts to keep from getting bogged down in philosophy that was just out of my depth.
On the whole, however, I found it to probably be the most honest and thorough treatment of the conundrum of Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac and how we can possibly look on a man willing to kill his own son as a righteous man. Kierkegaard approaches this story with “fear and trembling,” trying to understand what faith is and how it is possible that Abraham withstood this trial. This book is related to ethics, and ethics feature heavily in its contents, but Kierkegaard ultimately asserts that faith is “beyond” ethics, that it supersedes it. But how? How can one supersede ethics without dissolving into the demonic, but rather in order to ascend to the divine? All in all, a challenging read, but I enjoyed it, and the challenge of it. Next up, Aristotle, as I pursue a poor man’s classical education.
On the whole, however, I found it to probably be the most honest and thorough treatment of the conundrum of Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac and how we can possibly look on a man willing to kill his own son as a righteous man. Kierkegaard approaches this story with “fear and trembling,” trying to understand what faith is and how it is possible that Abraham withstood this trial. This book is related to ethics, and ethics feature heavily in its contents, but Kierkegaard ultimately asserts that faith is “beyond” ethics, that it supersedes it. But how? How can one supersede ethics without dissolving into the demonic, but rather in order to ascend to the divine? All in all, a challenging read, but I enjoyed it, and the challenge of it. Next up, Aristotle, as I pursue a poor man’s classical education.