Kierkegaard on Faith and Love

Abstract

Kierkegaard's writings are interspersed with remarkable stories of love, commonly understood as a literary device that illustrates the problematic nature of aesthetic and ethical forms of life, and the contrasting desirability of the life of faith. Sharon Krishek argues that for Kierkegaard the connection between love and faith is far from being merely illustrative. Rather, love and faith have a common structure, and are involved with one another in a way that makes it impossible to love well without faith. Remarkably, this applies to romantic love no less than to neighbourly love. Krishek's original and compelling interpretation of the Works of Love in the light of Kierkegaard's famous analysis of the paradoxicality of faith in Fear and Trembling shows that preferential love, and in particular romantic love, plays a much more important and positive role in his thinking than has usually been assumed.

Works of Love in a World of Violence: Kierkegaard, Feminism, and the Limits of Self‐Sacrifice

“… For recent publications on Kierkegaard's philosophy of love and/or his views of women, see Hall ; Léon ; and Krishek . My project is distinct from these works as none of them address the problem of female self‐sacrifice and the question of forgiveness in Kierkegaard's thought.…”

Teleological Suspensions In Fear and Trembling

“…(Westphall (1987: 100) briefly comments on this passage.) Krishek () convincingly articulates connections between love and faith, and Krishek (: 146) notes that Abraham is a knight of faith because he believed and trusted despite what evidence told him that he would get Isaac back (and even though he is also resigned to losing him).…”

Kierkegaard on Impartiality and Love

“…See my Kierkegaard on Faith and Love , Chapter 4, for an exegetical justification of this claim. See also my ‘In Defence of a Faith‐Like Model of Love: A Reply to John Lippitt's Kierkegaard and the Problem of Special Relationships: Ferreira, Krishek, and the “God Filter”’.…”

“…For a more comprehensive discussion of Ferreira's view, see my Kierkegaard on Faith and Love , Chapter 4.…”

“…Since I present in detail my understanding of Kierkegaardian faith in other places, here I will do so only in a nutshell. For an elaborated and textually grounded discussion of resignation, affirmation, and the paradoxical relation between them, see my Kierkegaard on Faith and Love , Chapters 2 and 3, and ‘The existential dimension of faith’.…”