The Psychology of Faith and the Meaning of Transcendence in the Philosophy of Kierkegaard

Abstract

The objective of the article is to examine the phenomenological meaning of the concept of faith in the philosophy of Kierkegaard and consider its psychbological implications. The article begins with a discussion of the aesthetic and ethical modes of existence showing how these are components of religious consciousness. A dialectical resolution of the conflict between aesthetic and moral impulses places the religious consciousness before a possibility which Kierkegaard calls the theological self that is wholly unlike what is known. It is in the context of the discussion of the possibility of this extraordinary self-identity that the attitude of faith and sin are analyzed. The movement toward the possibility which transcends the known is a death and rebirth process which, according to Kierkegaard, man is unable to choose on his own. Here the meaning of Christ is discussed as the bridge between the finite and infinite which replaces the necessity of choice with an acceptance of this extraordinary possibility achieved through a suspension of the standards of the ordinary and familiar. The article ends with a discussion of the role of reason and indirect communication in the dialogue between therapist and patient where the therapist is seeking to communicate a world view that transcends what for the patient is probable and familiar.