Monday, February 23, 2009

Amazing writer

This is amazingly written and it pulls you in so well that it is kind of scary. I had moments where I fell into the text and got wrapped up in the emotional connection to Abraham and completely forgot myself. Having said that I would to talk about his tribute to Abraham a little.
It starts with something that I really liked, it was this idea of time and memory as perhaps the most amazing testament to faith. Memory of past generations is our great gift from God which separates us from nature. We have the heroes and the poets, The poets love and admire the heroes for their greatness and the heroes in turn love the poets. "No! No one who was great in the world will be forgotten, but each was great in his own way, and each in proportion to the greatness of what he loved."(13) Abraham was for Kierkegaard perhaps the greatest because while he loved his son he loved god most. Abraham's faith in G-d and love for G-d were not for what was given or what even was seen as possible. Abraham was devoted and unwavering and never thought only of the possible but believed in the impossible too. Even when his wife was barren and they were too old he believed he would have a child. Then when his child was older and he loved his child dearly he did not stop loving G-d on the command to kill his son. In this love of G-d Abraham has been remembered through time, preserved as one of the greatest heroes. Kierkegaard sees this show of faith not as blindly following but as true faith because of Abraham's acceptance of the impossible even though he has not yet been granted anything.

2 comments:

  1. I'm just curious, but why do you write "G-d"?

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  2. "idea of time and memory as perhaps the most amazing testament to faith"
    I find the concept of memory intriguing as well. We take for granted that the past happened? It might sound silly but Decartes' evil demon comes to mind. What if some memories were fabricated dreams? What if I have had memories of my entire life up to this point artifically implated, how would you know? Seemingly no one asks these question with enough if any seriousness. We all take a leap of faith in terms of memory.

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