Gisle and the Leap of Faith

Famously, in his Concluding Unscientific Postscript, Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard described the need for a “qualitative transition of the leap from unbeliever to believer," colloquially known as the leap of faith. This is seen as brought on by an existential crisis by Kierkegaard, where the paradox of existence forces one to this higher sphere of belief. Gisle Johnson was regularly described as having been influenced by Kierkegaard, Svein Christofferson describing him as the first Kierkegaardian in theology, yet the 1898 Norwegian edition contains only the three stages of faith with no direct mention of a leap between stages. This language is actually found in the Swedish edition of 1878, directly implementing the Swedish word språng, but explained with biblical and theological rigor. Indeed, where the Swedish langauge contains much Kierkegaardian langauge, the (posthumous!) Norwegian edition seems to have edited it out. The section also contains valuable reflection on the nature of faith as a rest in God. Here is the entire section:

§27. Faith as Rest in God

The unsatisfactory state of the point of view of repentance is only abolished by the faith of the heart rising from the mere search for God of the idea and longing to a real finding of that which is sought, to a heartfelt appropriation of that which is found, to a rest in God, in which faith, as the unity of the knowledge of a heart, in which the uncertainty of the idea has disappeared in the certainty of the conviction of faith, and the devotion of a heart, in which the longing of faith, hovering between hope and fear, has passed into the confidence of a firm faith, can solve its task of abolishing the unhappiness of the broken heart in the peace and joy of a good conscience. The conviction of the reality of God's grace, which is thus one element of faith, must, in order to be able to solve its task of removing the heart's restlessness, be a personal conviction of faith, the truth content of which, so far from being found through any merely immanent development of thought, on the contrary, it appears as absolutely inaccessible to the understanding, a conviction of the truth of the absolutely incomprehensible and unthinkable, of the reality of the impossible, a conviction which can therefore only be attained through the denial of natural understanding and the surrender of all one's own wisdom in self-denying submission to the convincing power of objective revelation and in overcoming the natural unbelief of the heart. — But such a heartfelt, personal conviction is, as an act of the whole thinking and willing human spirit, not only a knowledge, but also an action, not only a recognition of the truth of revelation, but also a trusting appropriation of it and a trusting devotion to the God of this thus appropriated revelation. The penitent heart's longing for God rises in the conviction of faith to a firm trust in Him, in which it not only approaches the throne of grace with boldness, but also immerses itself in its open depths, in which it finds the unshakable foundation of its hope, and in which it can rest with security as in an infinite fullness of present possession. Through faith as the unity of the heart's conviction of grace and trust in it, man has now entered into a new existential relationship with God, which cannot but be reflected in his feeling. The anxiety of conscience is transformed into calm, the accusation into an acquitting conscience, in which the testimony of man's reunion with his God finds its inexpressible echo in a feeling of rest, peace, joy and bliss. But even if such a feeling is the natural effect of faith, it is not its necessary and inseparable consequence, which has its essential basis in the process of formation and development in which faith is always found hereafter.

Note. Faith is the subjective certainty of the objectively uncertain (§14 [1878]), the conviction of the truth of a word, of a person, but in faith as such, firm trust is an essential element, which is precisely what the longing faith lacks and in which the unsatisfactory part of it consists. Only such a faith is able to solve its task, to bring peace to the broken heart. The saving faith is as such a firm faith: 1 Pet. 5: 9; Acts. 16: 5; Col. 2: 5; Heb. 13: 9; 1 Cor. 1: 6, 8; 7; 2 Cor. 1: 7; Matt. 7:25; Rome. 1: 12; 16:25; Ephesus. 3: 17; col. 1:23; 1 Thesis. 3:2, 13; 2 Theses. 2: 17; Jas. 5:8 — a boldness, Eph. 3: 12; 1 Tim. 3: 13; Heb. 4: 16; 1 John 2: 28; 3: 21; Rom. 4: 21; Acts 28: 15; John 16:33; Matt. 9:2, 22. To this faith belong essentially two elements. The older Lutheran dogmaticians generally set up three elements in faith: 1) notitia, 2) assensus and 3) fiducia, but hardly correctly, since notitia as knowledge of the truth can also exist without faith, which is a matter of the heart, a personal form of existence. Faith is not a mere notitia historiae. Cf. Apologia, Art. 3: 6, 61, 128, 216; Art. 5: 60. Such knowledge is only, but also really, the necessary condition of faith (Rom. 10:14, 17; Gal. 3:2). — The two essential elements of faith are thus: 1) assensus and 2) fiducia = conviction and certainty of faith. Assensus thus becomes here an assensus specialis, not genera (§26). The ancients believed that assensus generalis was mere generalis, thus completely lacking the individual application. This is, however, a question. The incompleteness of faith from the standpoint of repentance means that the individual recedes before consciousness, the grasping of the longing for grace presupposes a notion that one can also really grasp it for one's own person, a notion which, however, essentially still suffers from uncertainty and cannot remove the peace of the heart. This goal is not reached by the assent of longing faith, but even less by a mere objective knowledge, which is always something in and of itself indifferent to the human heart. The despair of the heart can be lifted only by a conviction of the heart, which has its root in the innermost self of man and from there dominates the whole of man's personal existence. The brokenness is a matter of the heart, the conviction of faith must also be a matter of the heart; but it is not enough that a mere conviction of the intellect is not sufficient, it is not even possible. This is because the conviction of faith is a new knowledge, the direct opposite of the pre-Christian, the content of which is therefore also something absolutely unknown to man, hidden, something which can only become known to him by being revealed to him. And not enough with this. The hidden in itself, the revealed, is something offensive to the human understanding, something repulsive to it as the absolutely incomprehensible, as something that is not only against reason, but also contrary to reason. The relationship between the two is absolutely different, and the transition is mediated only by a leap [språng], by, as the ancients expressed themselves, a μετάβασις εἰς ἄλλογένος [transformation into another existence]. The invisible is that which cannot be seen, for it is the direct opposite of everything that is seen; is that which cannot be known, for it is the direct opposite of everything that is known. Faith as the lost sinner's conviction of grace, salvation and bliss is for the Jew an offense and for the Gentile madness, 1 Cor. 1: 18; 2: 14; John 14: 17; Rom. 4: 18; cf. Heb. 11: 1. The knowledge of faith as a mystery, cf. Matt. 11: 25, 27; 16: 17; Gal. 1: 12; 1 Pet. 1: 12. The knowledge of faith as a submission to the truth, Acts 6: 7; Rom. 1: 5; 10: 16; 2 Thess. 1: 8; 1 Pet. 1: 22; 2 Cor. 10: 5; Rom. 2: 8; Luc. 16: 31; Ap. G. 17: 4; Rom. 8: 38; 14: 14; 15: 14; Acts  19:26; Jer. 20:7; Jn. 3:36; Acts 14: 2; Rom. 2: 8; 1 Pet. 2: 8. On personal faith (essentially as approval, consent) cf. also 1 Jn. 4:16, credere aliquid, believe that something is so; cf. Jn. 11: 27; 16: 27; Rom. 6:8; faith in relation to the revelation received through faith, Luke 1:20; John 2:22; 10:38; 12:38; Acts 24:14; 2 Thessalonians 2:11; finally, see also Acts 1:14), i.e. believing God, acknowledging the truthfulness of God, Acts 8:12; 26:27; John 4:21; Romans 4:3; Psalms 106:24; 9:23. Faith is not to do something, but to be something in relation to another. Faith is thus essentially receptive in relation to its object; its activity dissolves in receptivity: an acceptance of the Word as a trustworthy word. Cf. John 3:33; 17:8; 1 Tim. 1:15; Acts 1:16; 1 John 3:33; 17:8; 1 Tim. 1:15; Acts 1:17; 1 Timothy 1:15; Acts 1:17; 1 Timothy 1:17 G. 2: 41; 11: 1; 17: 11; Luc. 8: 13; 1 Thess. 2: 13; a knowledge of true no: 1 Tim. 2: 4: 4: 3; Tit. 1: 1; John 8: 32; 2 Cor. 8: 9; 1 John 2:3; an acceptance of the Word which is also an acceptance of Christ: John 1:12; Col. 2:6, etc.

Such a conviction of faith is, as personal, an act of the whole personality, thus also an act of will, and this, more precisely, a surrender of the will to God, through which faith embraces Him, immerses itself in the bottomless depths of His grace, a confidence which is the longing of faith in a higher power. John 5: 40; 6: 35; Eph. 2:8-9; 3:12; Rom. 5: 2; Eph. 3: 12; 2 Cor 3: 4; Matt. 27: 43. Faith which confidence places in the Holy Scripture essentially has in a double relation to the object of faith, either as a movement towards its object, or as a rest in the same; the direction of faith towards God, Philem. 5; — more definitely as a foresight; a movement, the object of which is a rest in Him: Acts 9:42; Rom. 4:5; Heb. 6:1; an entry of faith, immersion in God; cf. Matthew 18: 6; John 1: 12; 2: 11; 3: 15; Rom. 10: 14; Gal. 2: 16; Php. 1: 29; 1 Peter. 1: 21; 1 John 5: 10, 13; a rest in God: Rom. 9:33; 10: 11); a rest in the fullness of God's grace, a dwelling in the Lord: Mk. 1: 15; Gal. 3:26; Eph. 1: 15; Col. 1:4; Gen. 15:6; Ex. 14:31; Ps. 78:22; 106:12; Is. 66. Cf. Ps. 13:6; 21:8; Ps. 18:30.

But if faith is thus essentially a finding of the sought-after God, a deepening in Him, a personal relationship of existence, in which the formerly evil, accusing conscience now knows of God's grace and good pleasure, in which the heart has found peace with God, then it is impossible otherwise than that this faith must cast a reflection on the mirror of feeling, that the feeling of anxiety and unhappiness must be transformed into a feeling of blessed joy, gladness and rest in God. Cf. Heb. 10:22; 1 Pet. 3:16, 21; Acts 3:21; 24:16; 1 Tim. 1:9; Matt. 11:28, 29 (a spiritual rest); an inner peace, John 14:27; 16:33; Rom. 5:6; 15:33; 2 Cor. 13:11. A peculiar joy (Rom. 15:13; Phil. 4:4; 1 John 1:4; 1 Peter 4:13). Although natural, it is not necessary. Faith can indeed be present without a corresponding feeling. Not only is the feeling always secondary, there have also been examples of believers who throughout their lives have not had any such peculiar feeling of joy and bliss. The basis is to be sought either in a sickly physical condition, or most notably in the circumstance that faith here is a progressive faith fighting for its existence. Fides triumphans during earthly existence is only a foretaste of the triumph of eternal heavenly existence.