Abstract
Abraham finds joy by virtue of the absurd, Johannes de Silentio tells us. Abraham believes and acts by virtue of the absurd — and he finds joy by virtue of the absurd. Whence this joy? If it is gained by virtue of the absurd, is it going to be beyond our understanding and thus, for all we can tell, simply gratuitous, an arbitrary adornment to Johannes’ portrait of Abraham? No, I suggest that Abraham’s joy is in a way we can understand integral to his faith and his trust in God. In fact if he were not joyful, his faith and trust would be lacking.
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Notes
Jean-Paul Sartre, L’Existentialisme est un humanisme, published in English as Existentialism, trans. Bernard Frectman (New York: Philosophical Library, 1947), pp. 22–3;
Frectman’s translation is reprinted in part as ‘Existentialism’ in Existentialism and Human Emotions (New York: Philosophical Library, 1985), p. 19.
Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, trans. Hazel E. Barnes (New York: Philosophical Library, 1956), p. 29.
For more on the contrast between Charles Manson and Abraham, as he is presented in Fear and Trembling, see Gene Outka, ‘Religious and Moral Duty: Notes on Fear and Trembling’, Religion and Morality, ed. Gene Outka and John P. Reeder, Jr (Garden City, New York: Anchor Press/Doubleday, 1973), pp. 229–30, and my God-Relationships With and Without God (London: Macmillan; New York: St. Martin’s, 1989), pp. 28–9 and 30–1.
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© 1997 J. Kellenberger
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Kellenberger, J. (1997). The Joyfulness of Faith. In: Kierkegaard and Nietzsche. Library of Philosophy and Religion. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230379633_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230379633_3
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