"The paradox of faith, then, is this: that the single individual is higher than the universal, that the single individual . . . determines his relation to the universal by his relation to the absolute, not his relation to the absolute by his relation to the universal" (Kierkegaard, 69).
This statement on faith made by Sren Kierkegaard expresses a difficult concept: the paradoxical nature of faith. Kierkegaard believed that people should not get caught up in the big ethical question of performance; rather, they should concentrate solely on their duty to God. This was the only way their actions could be called right. For Kierkegaard, Abraham was the model of faith, and, through an examination of the biblical account of Abraham, Kierkegaard hoped to demonstrate the power and paradox of faith. Abraham was honored by many, but the surprise is that he arrived at such glory by following the "absurd." He excelled, according to Kierkegaard, in both "absolute" and "universal" respects by ignoring the ethical and concentrating on his duty to God. Kierkegaard believed that Abraham's passionate response to the call of God, despite trying circumstances, is proof of his greatness.
An examination of what Kierkegaard meant when he used the words "absurd," "universal" and "absolute" is necessary so that his meaning is clear. "Absurd" refers to the apparent discrepancy between a person's actions and ends. "Universal" and "absolute" appear in the following quotations:
The ethical . . . is the universal (68).
. . . there is an absolute duty to God (70).
By "universal," Kierkegaard meant "ethical": the system of morals by which society judges what is evil and what is good. When referring to the "absolute," Kierkegaard meant "duty to God," which he believed was above all else. In Kierkegaard's statement, he is saying that, through faith, people are not bound by the conventions of society. People do not enter into a rela...