Knights of Faith

Abstract

Abraham is the paradigmatic knight of faith, but for Johannes de Silentio he is not therefore the first and last knight of faith. In Chapter 2 I suggested that Abraham’s wife Sarah might also be a knight of faith. For Johannes, in fact, there may be many knights of faith. He says that he does not deny that every second person may be a knight of faith.1 Johannes not only may, but must, allow this possibility, given the character of faith presented in Fear and Trembling. Faith, finally, is a matter of an individual faith relationship between the religious individual and God, an individual relationship which, along with the requirements it imposes, may be invisible to others. Many, then, for all Johannes or anyone can tell, may be knights of faith by virtue of such an individual faith relationship to God. Every second person may have an individual calling, not visible to others, that he or she as a religious individual follows. Though knights of faith, many knights might seem quite ordinary morally, for they would appear to be following the ethical1. And, in fact, for much of their lives they might well act in accord with the ethical1, although the absolute requirements of their individual faith relationships may at any time lead these religious individuals, like Abraham, to veer off from the ethical1.