Sárospataki Füzetek 15. (2011)
2011 / 4. szám - TANULMÁNYOK - Kónya Péter: Szlovák reformátusok a 17-18. században
Sawyer. Frank “essentially persecuted, or else we would be [shown to be] ethically mediocre”.26 The paradox of the ethical sphere is that we think we are better than we are. FAITH — S. Kierkegaard emphasizes faith not (finally) as doctrine, but as an attitude and action (leap of trust). An act of faith involves “infinite resignation” (a choice against ourselves in order to become new selves). The ‘Knight of Faith’ must be bold in the face of the difficulty (absurdity) of faith: but ‘the leap’ breaks the power of the ‘world’ over us, and we enter a new creative freedom coram Deo. Faith is a risk and an adventure. The paradox here is that the leap cannot be tested ahead of time, but only in its commitment. (Either/Or) FREEDOM - the past does not (need to) determine the present & fűmre. Existential choice has priority over the giveness of being (when it comes to creating a ‘self). The person living on the aesthetic level desires false freedom by turning limited choices into “infinite possibility” without commitment. False freedom leaves choices infinitely open, thus negating the demands of ‘either/or’ and thereby abolishing the ‘self. S. Kierkegaard talked about the ‘dizziness of freedom’. Just as looking down into a great abyss makes us dizzy, so looking into the depth of our freedom/possibilities does the same. (The Concept of Irony). GOD — appears continually in S. Kierkegaard’s writings, as the Other who challenges and disturbs us, whom we partly know but do not understand and certainly cannot control; Divine ways are not open to our scrutiny. How can we understand God if we cannot understand ourselves? Wisdom consists in knowing we know nothing (fully) — Socrates. GRIEF — “It requires moral courage to grieve; it requires religious courage to rejoice.”27 IRONY — relates also to S. Kierkegaard’s ‘indirect [rhetorical] communication’. This is the Socratic method of questioning, disturbing, and pulverizing a person’s opinions. The goal is to open up space for new and better understandings. Also called the ‘maieutic method’ or birth of truth. S. Kierkegaard loved irony, overstatements and understatements, metaphorical parodies, sometimes biting sarcasm, and continuous witty remarks. We are reminded of Erasmus. He also liked to point out incongruities, such as the man who comes face to face with the Almighty and Eternal One, and says: ‘Oh Lord, is it THOU? I hope my socks match!’ LEAP — the leap is a passionate moment in which one moves from the aesthetic to the ethical, and from the ethical to the religious (act of trust). All the objective and self-centred reasoning of the old self are put behind (even though this is absurd) and there is a “blessed leap” into a relationship with the Eternal One. 26 Diary, 113. 27 S. Kierkegaard, The journals, trans. Alexander Dru (New York: Harper & Row, 1959), 67. 62 SÁROSPATAKI FÜZETEK 2011/4
