In the “Attunement,” Kierkegaard shares the story of a man who first learned the biblical story of Abraham and Isaac when he was a child and has always loved it, but as he grew older, he understood Abraham less and less. Kierkegaard explains that he is writing this book because writing is enjoyable, although he believes that the book will be either ignored or criticized. The same goes for doubt-what used to take a lifetime to perfect, people now want to accomplish almost immediately. However, as he points out, this implies that people must have had faith at some point, or else how could they go further than it? Faith in the modern age isn’t something a person devotes their whole life to, but something that people either go beyond or mistakenly believe they can achieve in a few weeks or months. Søren Kierkegaard writes this book under the pseudonym Johannes de silentio, which translates into “John of the silence.” The book opens with a discussion about the state of modern society (for Kierkegaard, this would mean 19th-century Europe) and how so many people want to go beyond faith.

Fear and Trembling by Søren Kierkegaard