Fear and Trembling
by Søren Kierkegaard · Frygt og Bæven
Assigned by 4 of the 9 reading lists, catalogue entry only
- Written
- 1843
- Form
- Treatise
- Language
- Danish
- Length
- Short · 120 ppunder 120 pages
- Difficulty
- Difficult4 of 5 for a first-year reader
We recommendFear and Trembling, translated by Alastair HannayPenguin Classics, 1985Readable and accurate, with a helpful introduction; the Hongs' Princeton edition is the scholarly alternative.
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Published under the pseudonym Johannes de Silentio, the book meditates on Genesis 22, in which God commands Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac. After four retellings of the story and a tribute to Abraham, three problems ask whether there can be a teleological suspension of the ethical, whether there is an absolute duty to God, and whether Abraham was right to say nothing to Sarah, Eliezer and Isaac. Johannes contrasts the knight of infinite resignation, who gives up the finite, with the knight of faith, who gives it up and receives it back by virtue of the absurd, and confesses that he cannot understand Abraham.
No reading guide yet
The catalogue entry above is complete: the dates, the form, the themes and every program that assigns Fear and Trembling are verified against each program's published list.
What is missing is the part that takes real work: the summary, the key passages, and a recommended translation. The edition named below is the one most programs assign, so the buy links are useful already.
