Most religious systems contain an ethical component, typically one that has been revealed by a divine figure, to which their followers should adhere. Some, however, also include aspects that allow their followers to put aside ethics for certain actions. Religious authorities of the Christian Church often hail Abraham, the Father of Faith, as its perfect paragon, one to whom everybody should aspire to model. Kierkegaard classifies him as one living above the ethical, an inhabitant of the religious sphere who transcends the universal laws of ethics, a knight of faith, which he considers to be the best type of life. In this paper, I will argue that living an ethical life, in which one can still be faithful, is superior to trying to live a religious …show more content…
These contemporaries who kill the innocent or discriminate against others based on race, gender, or religion typically act out of passion. While they might be willing to take the same leap of faith as Abraham, that does not make them knights of faith. They bear an important difference which can be found in their passion: namely, that their acts consist of a hatred rather than love, like Abraham. Without love, “a precondition without which the whole affair becomes an act of wickedness,” they cannot satisfy the internal requirements of the soul to meet Kierkegaard’s standards for a knight of faith. They do not walk in isolation, as Abraham did, above the sphere of ethics. Therefore, Kierkegaard would have no admiration for them and would condemn their …show more content…
If one can construe a person who would cross the ethical boundary out of love, convinced that he or she is obeying the will of God, then that person would be in the same position as Abraham. For instance, a man of faith lives in the apartment at the corner of the block and has a son whom he loves very dearly. One day, after his son has been absent from school for some time, the police drive up to his home, and the man is seen walking out in handcuffs. During his trial, doctors discover that he suffers from mild schizophrenia, which he did not know prior to the death of his son. Ostensibly, the man thought he heard the voice of God calling him, and possessing a great deal of faith, enough to believe in the absurd, he killed his son, a story akin to that of Abraham. Although filicide may be an extreme example, it can be replaced with less egregious acts such as lying to or stealing from others, and still, Kierkegaard would have to admire the faith of the mistaken man or woman, even though he or she would not be praised by
Finding a way in life can be difficult. Following that way can be even more difficult, especially when it goes against someone's origin. In Acts of Faith, Eboo Patel tells his story of what it was like to struggle through finding himself. Patel asks the question of "How can I create a society of religious pluralism?" throughout the book, and raises implications about what our children are being taught in different societies throughout the world.
Winter, Gibson. Address. "Religious Social Ethics in a Postmodern World." Temple University, Philadelphia, 22 March 1995.
In Kierkegaard’s two works “You Shall Love” and “Our Duty to Love the People We See,” we are introduced with a moral responsibility towards others since the start. In “You Shall Love,” we are provided with the second commandment: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (17) whereas in the other reading we are provided with a biblical excerpt stating how we cannot claim to love God while hating our brother. It is by providing this biblical references that Kierkegaard reveals how, despite that they are commanded to us by God, we hold a moral responsibility towards our neighbor by serving, loving, and caring for them.
In Western society and culture, religion and morality have often intertwined and they have reflected their values onto each other. Today it is sometimes impossible to make a distinction between the two, since their influence has transcended generations. In modern Western culture, religion and society preach conformity. In order to be a “good” person, one must conform to the values imposed by the church1 and state.
There is a significant difference between government and religious morals even though both are ethical authorities. These two moral authorities conflict with one another while both are to help people make sou...
Wolf, Susan. "Moral Saints." Gendler, Tamar Szabo, Susanna Siegel and Steven M. Cahn. The Elements of Philosophy. New York: Oxford University Press, 2008. 220-232.
Religion and morality exist together in parallel according to Alan Keyes. Alan Dershowitz stated that if religion and morality are not separated, it could have negative discourse. James Fowler followed Piaget, Kohlberg, and Erickson when selecting the stages to his development of faith across the life span. These three men all selected different ways to look at religio...
Some people think that the religion is God-given and flexible for all times, but the other see it as traditions that change with time. Folkways can change to mores which are habits and traditions that are used to make moral judgments. Sumner believes that sometimes mores and folkways can be harmful and dangerous (24). Therefore, a person may think that what was right for ancestors may not be right these days now. Thus, most religions’ main goal is advocating to have good morals. Some believers feel that to have morals, they should follow their religion’s commandments. Additionally, thinking that there is an afterlife, which is the Day of Judgment and heaven and hell, morality becomes more desirable. Some religions teach that this life, which we are living right now, is nothing but a test for your morals and how much you successfully followed the required commandants. A person is evaluated by his actions and they are ones that determine one’s place in heaven or hell in the afterlife. As a result, people act morally for the benefit of their
The implementation of this new ethical paradigm allowed for Abrahamic societies to link their belief in God to common social values and responsibilities (Stark, 2001). The approach which Judaism, Christianity and Islam each take toward these common social values and responsibilities displays which values are held highest in each religion. Despite differences in each religion’s approach, common themes exist. The role of justice and forgiveness in each religion displays a common belief that man’s nature is to stray from God’s justice, but that man can ultimately connect with the divine through the contemplation and understanding of what is good and right.
“Christianity, along with all other theistic belief systems, is the fraud of the age. It serves to detach the species from the natural world, likewise, each other. It supports blind submission to authority[control of the masses].”(Zeitgeist 2007) In this essay, we will explore the different roots of religion and the plagiarism that Christianity and a number of different religions have committed.
Eastman, Roger. The Ways of Religion: An Introduction to the Major Traditions. Third Edition. Oxford University Press. N.Y. 1999
Kierkegaard was a Danish philosopher in the mid 1800s. He is known to be the father of existentialism and was at least 70 years ahead of his time. Kierkegaard set out to attack Kant’s rational ethics and make attacks on the Christianity of our day. He poses the question, how do we understand faith? He states that faith equals the absurd. In “Fear and Trembling”, he uses the story of Abraham and his son Isaac to show an example of faith as the absurd. The story of God asking Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac signifies a break in the theory that ethics and religion go hand in hand. He shows how the ethical and the religious can be completely different. “I by no means conclude that faith is something inferior but rather that it is the highest, also that it is dishonest of philosophy to give something else in its place and to disparage faith” (Fear and Trembling, 12).
Further to the idea of how the obedience of religious standards prevails over the materialistic impulses
Religion is an organized collection of beliefs and cultural systems that entail the worship of a supernatural and metaphysical being. “Religion just like other belief systems, when held onto so much, can stop one from making significant progress in life”. Together with religion come traditions that provide the people with ways to tackle life’s complexities. A subscription to the school of thought of great scholars
Religiousness A and B, although both based on blind faith differ in the fact that as Kierkegaard saw it, religiousness B allows for one’s own thoughts. It involves having a faith unique to oneself based on the ability to look within the self for truths and answers. It differs from that of the ‘organized’ religiousness A. Those who live the religious life A also hold a very strong faith but have been criticized of being followers of a herd mentality. This is argued because they go to organized church ceremonies given by a priest*. It is believed that those living in this faith do not think or act for themselves. Instead they allow for someone to dictate to them how they should act, behave and think.*A priest is a figure who for centuries has been seen as ‘called upon’ by God to spread His word and show people how to live to please Him.