KIERKEGAARD: The Knight of Faith

Eternalised

The knight of faith is one of Kierkegaard’s most important concepts, which he discusses in Fear and Trembling under the pseudonym Johannes de silentio. He begins explaining the knight of faith through the story of Abraham and Isaac.

Although he has never found any knight of faith, he would not deny on that ground that they exist. He looks like any normal person, one detects nothing of the strangeness and superiority that marks him.

Before one can be a knight of faith, one must become a knight of infinite resignation, one who renounces that which he most loves in the world. The knight of faith makes the leap of faith and by virtue of the absurd, he renounces everything and regains everything, coming back to his original position through a double movement.

He compares both movements: the movement of infinite resignation and the movement of faith with the leap of a ballet dancer and gives the example through the story of a man in an impossible love with a princess.

The general message is that the notion of faith is so far cheapened that what is talked about is not properly called faith at all.

☕ Donate a coffee

⭐ Support on Patreon

Send me anything you like to my mailing address:

Eternalised

P.O. Box 10.011

28080 Madrid, Spain