no escaping the question of faith

I have been busy lately and haven’t had time to consider the Dreyfus-Kierkegaard-Dostoevsky question which I have been discussing. Most of my time has been filled with either holiday related activities or preparations for my Romans class.

Yesterday morning I was reading through Grieb’s book The Story of Romans about chapter 4 of Romans. For those unfamiliar with the contents of that chapter, it is about faith, specifically the faith of Abraham. I sure didn’t think I would be coming back to the question of Abraham in my study of Romans. Well if that wasn’t enough, at the end of the chapter the last ‘for further reflection’ was this:

6. The theologian Soren Kierkegaard (following Tertuallian) spoke of believing “because it is absurd,” that is, because it makes no sense to trust God. In what ways, if any, does the story of Abraham call that idea into question? In what way, if any, does the story of Abraham support that idea? Are faith and reason inevitably opposed? What about faith and experience?

I don’t know who Tertuallian is, but I’m sure a little research into that would be valuable.

I like the first question, how does this story call Kierkegaard’s idea into question. Is there something in the story of Abraham to point to a non-absurd belief in God? There seems, at least to me while I am thinking about this presently, that there has to be some limit to the absurdity of faith. On some level it has to stop being absurd. But what else could it be?

I think to take Kierkegaard’s absurdity as simply absurdity would be falling short of what Kierkegaard meant. Round squares or square spheres are absurd but does that mean my belief in them means something, simply based on their absurdity? My faith in God is absurd because it isn’t rational, but what makes it very different, categorically different, is that somewhere deep inside of yourself you know its right.

Also interesting to think about is the question about faith and reason—Kierkegaard would say they can’t be combined, but isn’t all of apologetics based on the assumption that you can find faith through reason?