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‘No One Was As Great As Abraham’: Exemplarity and the Failure of Hermeneutical Refiguration in Fear and Trembling

  • Jared Highlen EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: July 11, 2023
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Kierkegaard Studies Yearbook
From the journal Kierkegaard Studies Yearbook Volume 28 Issue 1

Abstract

In this paper I put forward a new interpretation of the “Exordium” and “Eulogy for Abraham” sections in Fear and Trembling. It reads them in tension, as mutually incompatible approaches to the biblical narrative of Abraham. I argue this tension is productive insofar as it reveals and critiques the failure of each section to respond to Abraham as a religious exemplar of faith. Drawing on the work of Paul Ricœur, I argue that this failure consists in the absence of the hermeneutical moment of refiguration, which takes up what is understood in the narrative in the lived experience of the reader. By enacting this irreconcilable contrast within his text, Silentio poses a hermeneutical critique of faith by highlighting the importance of narrative refiguration in the life of faith, that is, the lived experience of those who understand Abraham to be a religious exemplar.

Published Online: 2023-07-11
Published in Print: 2023-07-11

© 2023 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Titlepages
  2. Titlepages
  3. Preface
  4. Contents
  5. Section 1: Interpreting Kierkegaard’s Works
  6. Section 1:   Interpreting Kierkegaard’s Works
  7. ‘No One Was As Great As Abraham’: Exemplarity and the Failure of Hermeneutical Refiguration in Fear and Trembling
  8. Kierkegaards Begriff Angst als „gottesfürchtige Satire“
  9. Seeing as the Eccentric Lover: An Exploration into Vision, Forgiveness, and Anamorphic Dynamic in Kierkegaard’s “Love Hides a Multitude of Sins”
  10. Section 2: Concepts and Problems in Kierkegaard
  11. Section 2:   Concepts and Problems in Kierkegaard
  12. Kierkegaard and the Figure of the Philistine: a Negative Way of Highlighting Existence
  13. Is There a Suspension of Subjectivity?
  14. The Call to Selfhood: Kierkegaard, Narrative Unity, and the Achievement of Personal Identity
  15. Between Mood and Spirit: Kierkegaard’s Conception of Death as the Teacher of Earnestness
  16. “My Dear Reader—but to Whom Am I Speaking?” Kierkegaard Read with the Rhetorical Theory of Narrative
  17. “Forgiveness is forgiveness:” Kierkegaard’s Spiritual Acoustics
  18. Section 3: Kierkegaard’s Sources and Historical Context
  19. Section 3:   Kierkegaard’s Sources and Historical Context
  20. The Kantian Sublime Reflected in the Kierkegaardian Sublime
  21. Der Begriff Ernst. Zur Kritik ironischer Selbstverhältnisse bei Hegel und Kierkegaard
  22. The Young Kierkegaard as a Student of Liunge’s Kjøbenhavnsposten
  23. Section 4: Receptions of Kierkegaard’s Thought
  24. Section 4:   Receptions of Kierkegaard’s Thought
  25. Fast vergessen: Die Nachwirkungen von Kierkegaards Kulturkritik im Krisendiskurs der dänischen Nachkriegszeit
  26. The Hong Kong Reception of Kierkegaard: From the 1950s to the Present
  27. Kierkegaard: Existenzphilosoph nur im ‚Nebenberuf‘? Überlegungen im Anschluss an Jürgen Habermas
  28. Kierkegaard and Religionswissenschaft: A Source- and Reception-Historical Survey (Part 2)
  29. Articles
  30. Abbreviations
https://doi.org/10.1515/kierke-2023-0002

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Titlepages
  2. Titlepages
  3. Preface
  4. Contents
  5. Section 1: Interpreting Kierkegaard’s Works
  6. Section 1:   Interpreting Kierkegaard’s Works
  7. ‘No One Was As Great As Abraham’: Exemplarity and the Failure of Hermeneutical Refiguration in Fear and Trembling
  8. Kierkegaards Begriff Angst als „gottesfürchtige Satire“
  9. Seeing as the Eccentric Lover: An Exploration into Vision, Forgiveness, and Anamorphic Dynamic in Kierkegaard’s “Love Hides a Multitude of Sins”
  10. Section 2: Concepts and Problems in Kierkegaard
  11. Section 2:   Concepts and Problems in Kierkegaard
  12. Kierkegaard and the Figure of the Philistine: a Negative Way of Highlighting Existence
  13. Is There a Suspension of Subjectivity?
  14. The Call to Selfhood: Kierkegaard, Narrative Unity, and the Achievement of Personal Identity
  15. Between Mood and Spirit: Kierkegaard’s Conception of Death as the Teacher of Earnestness
  16. “My Dear Reader—but to Whom Am I Speaking?” Kierkegaard Read with the Rhetorical Theory of Narrative
  17. “Forgiveness is forgiveness:” Kierkegaard’s Spiritual Acoustics
  18. Section 3: Kierkegaard’s Sources and Historical Context
  19. Section 3:   Kierkegaard’s Sources and Historical Context
  20. The Kantian Sublime Reflected in the Kierkegaardian Sublime
  21. Der Begriff Ernst. Zur Kritik ironischer Selbstverhältnisse bei Hegel und Kierkegaard
  22. The Young Kierkegaard as a Student of Liunge’s Kjøbenhavnsposten
  23. Section 4: Receptions of Kierkegaard’s Thought
  24. Section 4:   Receptions of Kierkegaard’s Thought
  25. Fast vergessen: Die Nachwirkungen von Kierkegaards Kulturkritik im Krisendiskurs der dänischen Nachkriegszeit
  26. The Hong Kong Reception of Kierkegaard: From the 1950s to the Present
  27. Kierkegaard: Existenzphilosoph nur im ‚Nebenberuf‘? Überlegungen im Anschluss an Jürgen Habermas
  28. Kierkegaard and Religionswissenschaft: A Source- and Reception-Historical Survey (Part 2)
  29. Articles
  30. Abbreviations
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