What do you think?
Rate this book
Fear And Trembling and The Book on Adler
Søren Kierkegaard not only transformed Protestant theology but also anticipated twentieth-century existentialism and provided it with many of its motifs. Fear and Trembling and The Book on Adler–addressed to a general audience–have the imaginative excitement and intense personal appeal of the greatest literature. Only Plato and Nietzsche have matched Kierkegaard’s ability to give ideas so compellingly vivid and dramatic a shape.
Translated by Walter Lowrie
Translated by Walter Lowrie
302 pages, Hardcover
First published October 16, 1843
16 people are currently reading
220 people want to read
About the author
Søren Kierkegaard
1,125 books6,396 followersSøren Aabye Kierkegaard was a prolific 19th century Danish philosopher and theologian. Kierkegaard strongly criticised both the Hegelianism of his time and what he saw as the empty formalities of the Church of Denmark. Much of his work deals with religious themes such as faith in God, the institution of the Christian Church, Christian ethics and theology, and the emotions and feelings of individuals when faced with life choices. His early work was written under various pseudonyms who present their own distinctive viewpoints in a complex dialogue.
Kierkegaard left the task of discovering the meaning of his works to the reader, because "the task must be made difficult, for only the difficult inspires the noble-hearted". Scholars have interpreted Kierkegaard variously as an existentialist, neo-orthodoxist, postmodernist, humanist, and individualist.
Crossing the boundaries of philosophy, theology, psychology, and literature, he is an influential figure in contemporary thought.
Kierkegaard left the task of discovering the meaning of his works to the reader, because "the task must be made difficult, for only the difficult inspires the noble-hearted". Scholars have interpreted Kierkegaard variously as an existentialist, neo-orthodoxist, postmodernist, humanist, and individualist.
Crossing the boundaries of philosophy, theology, psychology, and literature, he is an influential figure in contemporary thought.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
July 20, 2023
We're the knights, yuo're the jester...
August 11, 2025
I read only Fear and Trembling... Not a fan. I'm grateful for the stranger who stopped me from buying it in a Waldenbooks when I was in high school. He pointed me instead to Will Durant's The Story of Philosophy, which is excellent. God bless him and Will Durant.
Kierkegaard believes that God throws out completely immoral commands at random. Since He doesn't, all the hysterical hand-waving that is this book doesn't need to exist and never should have been written.
He thinks this because of his astonishingly simple-minded reading of Abraham. I was looking forward to some insight into how Abraham came to believe God was asking him to sacrifice Isaac. Gods in the Ancient Near East were always demanding parents sacrifice their children to them; it was a very pious thing to do. Alas, Kierkegaard never once considered how this revelation came to Abraham. He seems to think Abraham got a phone call from the sky one day, and there was no question what was said, and no question who it was from. Nothing like the conviction of Jeremiah, that he couldn't hold in, and that made him defy the revelatory dreams of all the other prophets. No room for Isaiah's "come, let us reason together." Kierkegaard assumes no contact with Abraham's mind whatsoever. And we know it wasn't Satan because...caller ID?
At first Kierkegaard struck me as a very pious young man who just didn't know what to make of the Abraham and Isaac story. He was also spiralling because he couldn't marry his girlfriend,* which understandably produced a lot of overwrought nonsense in these pages. But then he started talking about the aesthetics of being obedient in a situation like Abraham's. That's a completely inappropriate consideration, and made me think he partly just wants to bloviate.
I appreciate the reminder that faith isn't always easy, but I worry that Kierkegaard doesn't believe God has a reliable character, nor that his ethical commands come from it. To the extent there is any philosophy here, it is unfruitful at best and dangerous at worst.
*I wouldn't marry him either. He drips contempt for anyone who would water down Jesus's command to hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters. He views it the way he views God telling Abraham to murder Isaac. He can imagine nothing more sublime than obeying these painful, incomprehensible, unethical demands from the deity. That's when you're a "knight of faith." Ladies, this is a red flag.
Kierkegaard believes that God throws out completely immoral commands at random. Since He doesn't, all the hysterical hand-waving that is this book doesn't need to exist and never should have been written.
He thinks this because of his astonishingly simple-minded reading of Abraham. I was looking forward to some insight into how Abraham came to believe God was asking him to sacrifice Isaac. Gods in the Ancient Near East were always demanding parents sacrifice their children to them; it was a very pious thing to do. Alas, Kierkegaard never once considered how this revelation came to Abraham. He seems to think Abraham got a phone call from the sky one day, and there was no question what was said, and no question who it was from. Nothing like the conviction of Jeremiah, that he couldn't hold in, and that made him defy the revelatory dreams of all the other prophets. No room for Isaiah's "come, let us reason together." Kierkegaard assumes no contact with Abraham's mind whatsoever. And we know it wasn't Satan because...caller ID?
At first Kierkegaard struck me as a very pious young man who just didn't know what to make of the Abraham and Isaac story. He was also spiralling because he couldn't marry his girlfriend,* which understandably produced a lot of overwrought nonsense in these pages. But then he started talking about the aesthetics of being obedient in a situation like Abraham's. That's a completely inappropriate consideration, and made me think he partly just wants to bloviate.
I appreciate the reminder that faith isn't always easy, but I worry that Kierkegaard doesn't believe God has a reliable character, nor that his ethical commands come from it. To the extent there is any philosophy here, it is unfruitful at best and dangerous at worst.
*I wouldn't marry him either. He drips contempt for anyone who would water down Jesus's command to hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters. He views it the way he views God telling Abraham to murder Isaac. He can imagine nothing more sublime than obeying these painful, incomprehensible, unethical demands from the deity. That's when you're a "knight of faith." Ladies, this is a red flag.
January 18, 2021
Fear and Trembling: 4/5, Book on Adler: 2/5. One of those books that is so deep and full of meaning, the more the times you read it, the more you’ll get out of it.
August 10, 2016
The stunningly lyrical, beautiful and yet difficult book is about "a teleological suspension of ethical" in the Abraham and Issac. How to understand faith? S.K. pit the horrific, holy dread of the gap between human and God in the story of a father sacrificing his beloved son. S.K. reviewed other three heroic figures: Agamemnon (Iphigenia), Jephtha (his daughter), Brutus (imagining he has a righteous son). Yet these figures remained in the realm of ethical instead of the higher realm of faith resided by Abraham. The anguished meditation of S.K. on Abraham's humanity and his faith is the core of Fear and Trembling. What does it mean to be a faithful human? The problemata, problems I and II are all trying to get around this question.
I do not have enough knowledge and practice of faith to read deeply into this book so I will return when I can.
I do not have enough knowledge and practice of faith to read deeply into this book so I will return when I can.
March 11, 2023
(4.5/5 for Fear and Trembling) Fear and Trembling is a book I look forward to rereading in the future for a couple of reasons. Reason number one is definitely my inability to fully understand his writing. If I may be so honest, I had to reread a couple of paragraphs to get a picture of what he’s trying to say. I understand that my reading comprehension plays a definite part in my inability to fully understand his writing, but I can’t lie to you, Kierkegaard isn’t the clearest writer.
That brings me to reason number two: even though most of the time I couldn’t fully grasp what he’s trying to actually say, he managed to keep me hooked because of the way he writes! He may not be the clearest writer, but I could feel his passion and sometimes even frustration seeping through his writing. I could feel his fascination over faith and he managed to bring me into a state of fascination over it as well.
Like the people Kierkegaard was describing, I too often find myself saying that I don’t feel fulfilled by faith—I don’t think that faith is enough to keep me going in this god forsaken world. But through reading this book, I realized that I’ve never even thought about what faith is and how to attain it.
I’ve always seen faith as something that isn’t far from believing and even instantaneous to attain: I believe in God, hence, I have faith in God.
But the truth is, faith isn’t an easy thing to attain. I actually quite agree with what Kierkegaard had to say:
“Faith is the highest passion in a man. There are perhaps many in every generation who do not even reach it, but no one gets further."
His reflection on faith made me fall in love with his ‘absurdism’. I may have been misunderstanding his ‘absurdism’, but through reading this book, I managed to feel justified with thinking that the impossibility of us fully understanding ourselves, the people around us, and the world we live in is something to be embraced. How boring would life be if everything is able to be grasped by us? Or as Kierkegaard said:
“Or what is existence for but to be laughed at if men in their twenties have already attained the utmost.”
Overall, through reading Fear and Trembling, I managed to see life in a different light. I managed to see that, maybe, the absurdity of life is what makes life worth living.
That brings me to reason number two: even though most of the time I couldn’t fully grasp what he’s trying to actually say, he managed to keep me hooked because of the way he writes! He may not be the clearest writer, but I could feel his passion and sometimes even frustration seeping through his writing. I could feel his fascination over faith and he managed to bring me into a state of fascination over it as well.
Like the people Kierkegaard was describing, I too often find myself saying that I don’t feel fulfilled by faith—I don’t think that faith is enough to keep me going in this god forsaken world. But through reading this book, I realized that I’ve never even thought about what faith is and how to attain it.
I’ve always seen faith as something that isn’t far from believing and even instantaneous to attain: I believe in God, hence, I have faith in God.
But the truth is, faith isn’t an easy thing to attain. I actually quite agree with what Kierkegaard had to say:
“Faith is the highest passion in a man. There are perhaps many in every generation who do not even reach it, but no one gets further."
His reflection on faith made me fall in love with his ‘absurdism’. I may have been misunderstanding his ‘absurdism’, but through reading this book, I managed to feel justified with thinking that the impossibility of us fully understanding ourselves, the people around us, and the world we live in is something to be embraced. How boring would life be if everything is able to be grasped by us? Or as Kierkegaard said:
“Or what is existence for but to be laughed at if men in their twenties have already attained the utmost.”
Overall, through reading Fear and Trembling, I managed to see life in a different light. I managed to see that, maybe, the absurdity of life is what makes life worth living.
April 8, 2021
Wow.
The dialectical lyric structure of F&T is probably the most interesting piece of literary craftsmanship I have read to date.
Kierkegaard's theory of faith and the absurd has completely changed the way I - as a Christian - see faith and those who have faith and the despair that comes alongside faith.
My favourite quote from this text is the following:
"our age is not willing to do with faith, with its miracle of turning water into wine, it goes further, it turns wine into water". This I think sums up perfectly the mindless pursuit of rationality - the more we try to become rational the more we lose that essence of mankind.
This was the first text by S.K that I have read, and I doubt it will be the last.
The dialectical lyric structure of F&T is probably the most interesting piece of literary craftsmanship I have read to date.
Kierkegaard's theory of faith and the absurd has completely changed the way I - as a Christian - see faith and those who have faith and the despair that comes alongside faith.
My favourite quote from this text is the following:
"our age is not willing to do with faith, with its miracle of turning water into wine, it goes further, it turns wine into water". This I think sums up perfectly the mindless pursuit of rationality - the more we try to become rational the more we lose that essence of mankind.
This was the first text by S.K that I have read, and I doubt it will be the last.
October 2, 2024
This book-essay is the tantamount version of Camus’ philosophical reasoning in essence. Focusing on the absurdism in actions connecting to faith, rather than pure logical doubt. Because, in the end, Abraham had absolute security of knowledge. Abraham endured his suffering and embraced his son’s presumed death, and it is by this that he transcended organic human thought. Which is why skeptics view either/ and his actions with God’s as ludicrous…or absurd. Thus by embodying the absurdity of his (Abraham) actions, he became free of the suffering of them.
Thank you, enlightened Kierkegaard, for aiding me in my understanding to pursue my essay about Seneca.
Thank you, enlightened Kierkegaard, for aiding me in my understanding to pursue my essay about Seneca.
June 8, 2019
Read Fear and Trembling. Unintelligible gibberish.
January 15, 2015
Read Fear and Trembling first and reviewed it elsewhere.
The book on Adler was seemed more cohesive and easier to follow. In this Kierkegaard discusses his meeting with Adler, a man who apparently claimed to have a special revelation from Jesus, where Jesus appeared to him and gave him a special message, from that Adler wrote several book (even publishing 4 at once). Its been a couple of months since I read this and I don't remember at all what this special revelation was, what I do remember is Kierkegaard disproving that Adler had this revelation and that Adler even started to doubt this himself. There was a chapter near the end where Kierkegaard discusses what kind of culture allows for this type of thing to be so easily accepted, I couldn't help wondering what he would think if he saw the events of the Word of Faith movement during the last 50 years and heard the stories of Oral Roberts and his 50 foot Jesus commanding Roberts to build a research center, or of Kenneth Hagin and Jesus supposedly telling him how to be prosperous, it would have been interesting.
The book on Adler was seemed more cohesive and easier to follow. In this Kierkegaard discusses his meeting with Adler, a man who apparently claimed to have a special revelation from Jesus, where Jesus appeared to him and gave him a special message, from that Adler wrote several book (even publishing 4 at once). Its been a couple of months since I read this and I don't remember at all what this special revelation was, what I do remember is Kierkegaard disproving that Adler had this revelation and that Adler even started to doubt this himself. There was a chapter near the end where Kierkegaard discusses what kind of culture allows for this type of thing to be so easily accepted, I couldn't help wondering what he would think if he saw the events of the Word of Faith movement during the last 50 years and heard the stories of Oral Roberts and his 50 foot Jesus commanding Roberts to build a research center, or of Kenneth Hagin and Jesus supposedly telling him how to be prosperous, it would have been interesting.
October 15, 2013
Pure genius. I have no words for this one. It was very difficult to get a good grasp on the entire book. Lucky there are tonnes of material that can help you with it when you are feeling stuck with some of his ideas.
I've read it many many times. The Book on Adler is superb too. Offers a good insight into Kierkegaard's mind.
In fact, I would recommend reading The Book on Adler first, and then dive into the Fear & Trembling.
I've read it many many times. The Book on Adler is superb too. Offers a good insight into Kierkegaard's mind.
In fact, I would recommend reading The Book on Adler first, and then dive into the Fear & Trembling.
April 20, 2014
It is now my intention to draw out from the story of Abraham the dialectical consequences inherent in it, expressing them in the form of problemata, in order to see what a tremendous paradox faith is, a paradox which is capable of transforming a murder into a holy act well-pleasing to God, a paradox which gives Isaac back to Abraham, which no thought can master, because faith begins precisely there where thinking leaves off.
Want to read
April 19, 2010Overdue and already on hold, so I'll have to finish this next cycle. I'm really enjoying it, about halfway through. Not a fast read and I'm sure not understanding it all, but the section on Abraham and faith is wonderful.
December 28, 2007
so d'ya like philosophy?
the way he dissects the story of Abraham is genius
the way he dissects the story of Abraham is genius
December 16, 2012
To be honest, I need to give these another reading. My attention ebbed and flowed at times. Still it was a good introduction to Kierkegaard's style when writing as himself.
March 28, 2013
Another book for my philosophy class. I struggled with this one a lot.
June 21, 2015
Pretty much above my pay grade.
Read
November 21, 2009None
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews