Skip to main content
Journal cover image

Self-Deception, Confusion, and Salvation in "Fear and Trembling" with "Works of Love"

Publication ,  Journal Article
Hall, AL
Published in: The Journal of Religious Ethics
2000

Reading "Fear and Trembling" with "Works of Love" heightens Kierkegaard's summons to acknowledge the ambiguity of our aims and the treachery of our love. "Works of Love" underscores that there is a "neighbor" in "Fear and Trembling" whose justified or damnable banishment occasions Kierkegaard's attempt to "track down" the "illusions" of love. Through de Silentio, Kierkegaard prompts the reader to consider whether the promise has been broken due to radical obedience, lack of faith, dearth of imagination, or a gnarled combination of motives. We are to recognize our kinship with the duplicitous merman and discover that we must, like Tobit's Sarah, receive an extravagant gift. "Fear and Trembling" is thus a text with soteriological import, but with ethical import as well. Convicted by and indebted to God, we are to find in Abraham's act a premonitory paradigm for every engagement.

Duke Scholars

Published In

The Journal of Religious Ethics

ISSN

0384-9694

Publication Date

2000

Volume

28

Issue

1

Start / End Page

37 / 61

Publisher

Blackwell Publishing

Related Subject Headings

  • Religions & Theology
  • 5004 Religious studies
  • 5001 Applied ethics
  • 2204 Religion and Religious Studies
  • 2201 Applied Ethics
 

Citation

APA
Chicago
ICMJE
MLA
NLM
Hall, A. L. (2000). Self-Deception, Confusion, and Salvation in "Fear and Trembling" with "Works of Love". The Journal of Religious Ethics, 28(1), 37–61.
Hall, A. L. “Self-Deception, Confusion, and Salvation in "Fear and Trembling" with "Works of Love".” The Journal of Religious Ethics 28, no. 1 (2000): 37–61.
Hall AL. Self-Deception, Confusion, and Salvation in "Fear and Trembling" with "Works of Love". The Journal of Religious Ethics. 2000;28(1):37–61.
Hall, A. L. “Self-Deception, Confusion, and Salvation in "Fear and Trembling" with "Works of Love".” The Journal of Religious Ethics, vol. 28, no. 1, Blackwell Publishing, 2000, pp. 37–61.
Hall AL. Self-Deception, Confusion, and Salvation in "Fear and Trembling" with "Works of Love". The Journal of Religious Ethics. Blackwell Publishing; 2000;28(1):37–61.
Journal cover image

Published In

The Journal of Religious Ethics

ISSN

0384-9694

Publication Date

2000

Volume

28

Issue

1

Start / End Page

37 / 61

Publisher

Blackwell Publishing

Related Subject Headings

  • Religions & Theology
  • 5004 Religious studies
  • 5001 Applied ethics
  • 2204 Religion and Religious Studies
  • 2201 Applied Ethics