Leap to Faith, How and Why?

In this paper, I discuss the notion of leap to faith that is found abundantly in Kierkegaard’s writings. In the first part I set the context for the discussion by focusing on different usages of the term “faith” by posing a distinction between faith-in and faith-that. In the second section I discuss the mechanism of the leap; what does the leap consist of? What are the requisite conditions for such a leap? What kind of a character ought one have to perform it? These questions then lead me to a discussion of whether we can envisage something beyond Christianity to which this mechanism might apply, and I especially focus on freedom and love.