Brian Hamilton

A Faith Impenetrable

“Love surely has its priests in the poets, and occasionally one hears a voice that knows how to honor it, but on faith not a word is heard. Who speaks in honor of its passion? Philosophy goes further. Theology sits by the window all made up and courts its favor, offering to sell its delights to philosophy. It is said to be difficult to understand Hegel but to understand Abraham is a small matter. To go beyond Hegel is a miracle but to manage Abraham is the easiest thing of all. I for one have devoted considerable time to understanding the Hegelian philosophy; I believe also that I have understood it fairly well, and I am foolhardy enough to think that when I cannot understand him in certain passages in spite of the effort applied, then probably he himself has not been entirely clear. All this I do easily, naturally, without getting a headache from it. However, when I must think about Abraham, I am virtually annihilated. At every moment I am aware of that prodigious paradox which is the content of Abraham’s life; at every moment I am repelled, and in spite of all its passion, my thought cannot penetrate it, cannot make a hairs-breadth of headway. I strain every muscle to get a perspective, and at the same instant I become paralyzed.”

—Søren Kierkegaard (Johannes de silentio), Fear and Trembling, p. 27.

22 September 2007 |
tags: Miscellaneous