{"id":29685,"date":"2016-03-30T12:23:24","date_gmt":"2016-03-30T16:23:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/?p=29685"},"modified":"2016-03-31T16:18:33","modified_gmt":"2016-03-31T20:18:33","slug":"gordon-marino-faith-sees-best-dark","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/2016\/03\/30\/gordon-marino-faith-sees-best-dark\/29685\/","title":{"rendered":"Gordon Marino: \u201cFaith Sees Best in the Dark\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"image001-4\"Vice President Joe Biden has frequently acknowledged that only his faith has enabled him to endure the untimely death of his son, Beau. In a talk show in September, Biden revealed that his wife Jill had taped an expression from philosopher and theologian Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) to his mirror: \u201cFaith sees best in the dark.\u201d At the recent White House Easter prayer breakfast<\/a>, Biden echoed that same half sentence. But what do those simple six words from the Danish firebrand mean?<\/p>\n

The expression that has provided such sustenance to Mr. Biden can be found in Kierkegaard\u2019s 1847 book, Uplifting Discourses in Various Spirits<\/em>,* in a section of text entitled \u201cThe Gospel of Suffering.\u201d The paragraph from which Biden cites reads:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe believer humanly comprehends how heavy the suffering is, but in faith\u2019s wonder that it is beneficial to him, he devoutly says: It is light. Humanly he says: It is impossible, but he says it again in faith\u2019s wonder that what he humanly cannot understand is<\/em> beneficial to him. In other words, when sagacity is<\/em> able to perceive the beneficialness, then faith cannot see God; but when in the dark night of suffering sagacity cannot see a handbreadth ahead of it, then faith can see God, since faith sees best in the dark<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are many ways to interpret this tissue of thought, but a few pages before this paragraph, Kierkegaard observes \u201c\u2026faith always pertains to what is not seen, be it the invisible <\/em>or the improbable.\u201d <\/em>The benefits are easily intelligible when the love of your life accepts your marriage proposal and you have just landed the job of your dreams. In such sunny times, it does not require faith to discern the blessings of life.<\/p>\n

Human understanding, however, cannot find anything good in the death of a son. In that obsidian night, sagacity is blind to goodness.<\/p>\n

Though his entire life was a meditation on the Christian faith, Kierkegaard was no dew-eyed believer. He reminds his reader \u201cit is not true that the Christian is exempted from human sufferings,\u201d and when those sufferings are at your threshold, when the earthquakes of life rumble and there are no worldly advantages to point to, then neither the senses nor the mind can discern anything beneficial. In that darkness, faith sees best<\/strong>. And what does faith see? Faith sees what human understanding can only shake its head at, namely, \u201cthat the heavy suffering is beneficial.\u201d<\/p>\n

*S\u00f8ren Kierkegaard. Upbuilding Discourses in Various Spirits. H.V. Hong & E.H. Hong, eds. and transl. (Princeton Univ. Press, 1993).<\/em><\/p>\n

Gordon Marino is professor of philosophy and director of the Hong Kierkegaard Library at St. Olaf College. He is also editor of <\/strong>The Quotable Kierkegaard <\/a><\/strong><\/em>(Princeton Univ. Press, 2013). <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In six simple words, the Danish firebrand philosopher and theologian Soren Kierkegaard illuminated the difference between faith and human understanding, and Vice President Joe Biden found the expression that has provided him with sustenance in the midst of suffering. More →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":160,"featured_media":29689,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29685","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nGordon Marino: \u201cFaith Sees Best in the Dark\u201d | March 30, 2016 | Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly | PBS<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/2016\/03\/30\/gordon-marino-faith-sees-best-dark\/29685\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Gordon Marino: \u201cFaith Sees Best in the Dark\u201d | March 30, 2016 | Religion & Ethics 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