Edward F. Mooney is Professor of Philosophy at Sonoma State University.

"Apart from the excellent style and clarity of exposition, what I like best about this book is the remarkable success with which the author probes a classically problematic text, and not only brings it into clear relation with Kierkegaard's other principal texts, but also relates its themes to those of current work in moral philosophy. The book evinces an impressive command of the relevant literature, both specifically Kierkegaardian and that pertaining to deep moral issues currently debated." — Alastair Hannay, University of Oslo"This is a wonderful book: insightful, reflective, profound. I would not have thought it possible for anyone to say anything truly original about Kierkegaard's most widely-read and familiar work. Nonetheless, Mooney succeeds beyond reasonable expectation." — George R. Lucas, Jr., Clemson University

• Preface Acknowledgments Note on Translation 1. Masks and Commitment: An Introduction The Writer and His MasksReason in TransformationsThe Christian AssumptionAn Overview 2. Ordeals of Meaning: Art, Deed, and System Preface: Commerce, Spirit, and Hegel's SystemAttunement: Finding the Symbolic KeySpeech in Praise of Abraham: Art and Admiration 3. Ordeals of Love: Preamble from the Heart The Knight and His PrincessFinite/Infinite, Temporal/EternalResignation vs. FaithProprietary Claim and Selfless ConcernReceptivity and ReturnThe AbsurdAbraham: Dread and Joy 4. Ordeals of Reason and Ethics: Dilemmas and Subjectivity Preserving Fear and TremblingSarte and DilemmaUniversal and ParticularAbraham's SilenceSubjectivity and Reason 5. Ordeals of Reason and Ethics: Suspensions and Faiths Suspension as DilemmaIrrationality, Faith, and the FanaticRefusing GodFaiths, Secular, and Religious 6. Ordeals and Reconciliations: Getting Isaac Back Resignation, Humility, and ValueSuspending the Universal: Individual WorthGift and GiverEssential Humanity: The Universal Returned 7. Ordeals and Reconciliations: Faith and Moral Virtue ClarificationsKant, Kierkegaard, and Hidden InwardnessThe Invisible KnightThe Tale Retold 8. Ordeals of Silence: Ethics and Transformations DisclosureMarks of the EthicalThe Limits of EthicsEthics Transformed 9. Ordeals of Silence: Faith and Concealments Silences Once MoreKinds of ConcealmentWriting and Redemption 10. From Socrates to Abraham: An Epilogue Notes Bibliography Index