Listen in as Jeff Mayhugh and I, Craig T. Stewart, share our thoughts after reading Fear and Trembling!
Housekeeping!
At the end we discuss plans for the summer and season two of What The B@@K?
There will not be a full-length podcast in July, but we do intend to share some short form webisodes on social media. In August, we will update everyone with the plans, books, and cadence going forward. Until then, feel free to send us suggestions for books and/or the kind of content you’d like to see from What The B@@K? going forward. We’d love to hear from you here in Substack or on social media!
And now…
We’ve set things up differently for this podcast to better fit the philosophical format of the book. In place of a Synopsis, we have the source story that discussion will pull from. From there we dive into the Preamble and three problems Kierkegaard brings up, discussing what stuck out most to us along the way.
Abraham Tested (Genesis Chapter 22 1-19)
22 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he replied.
2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”
3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5 He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.”
6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, 7 Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?”
“Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.
“The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”
8 Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.
9 When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he replied.
12 “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”
13 Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram[a] caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”
15 The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time 16 and said, “I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, 18 and through your offspring[b] all nations on earth will be blessed,[c] because you have obeyed me.”
19 Then Abraham returned to his servants, and they set off together for Beersheba. And Abraham stayed in Beersheba.
Biblical excerpt courtesy of biblegateway.com
The Three Problems:
The Teleological Suspension of the Ethical: Is it possible to suspend “universal” or societal ethical norms in favor of a higher, divine purpose?
The Absolute Duty to God: Do individuals have an absolute duty to God that supersedes all other duties and obligations?
The Problem of Faith and Reason: Was it ethically defensible of Abraham to conceal his purpose from Sarah, from Eleazar, from Isaac?
Additionally: What is a leap of faith and how far does it go?
List of books What the B@@K? is reading through:
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep - BladerunnerEnder’s gameLord of the fliesMetamorphosisMinority reportEnders ShadowFahrenheit 451Beyond good and evilElectric dreamsReady player 1The Great GatsbyFear and trembling
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