Kierkegaard and Providence

International Journal of Philosophy and Theology, 2019

In this short introductory contribution the guest editors of this special issue sketch its aim and context.

2016

This project presents a comparative philosophical approach to understanding key elements in the philosophy of Søren Kierkegaard by juxtaposing his works with the philosophy and theology of the Eastern Orthodox Church.. The primary aim of the project is to look at three key areas of Kierkegaard’s philosophy that have been either underrepresented or misunderstood in the literature. These three areas are: Kierkegaard’s views on sin and salvation, Kierkegaard’s epistemology, and Kierkegaard’s philosophy of personhood. The dissertation ends with an epilogue that briefly explores a further area where this comparative approach might provide fruitful results, namely Kierkegaard’s views on collective worship. I argue that the revolutionary nature of Kierkegaard’s break with prevalent views in the Western Christian traditions (Protestantism and Roman Catholicism) have not always been fully appreciated due to the fact that he is most often read through the lens of either Western Christianity o...

Presented paper at Evangelical Theological Society, 2021

In this paper, I want to walk through the outlines of Kierkegaard’s Christological convictions in order to show the following things. First, how the context of his writings established issues he was intent on correcting. Second, his output regarding Christ as Paradox is decidedly Chalcedonian and orthodox in content. Third, I want to indicate how his concept of Christ’s Incognito existence as the God-Man was a necessary component undergirding what faith and only faith has always been the only way to know God and be reconciled to God. And finally, to show that the way he addresses the identity of Christ for us as a matter of existential immediacy is critically important.

MLN, 2013

2005

This thesis attempts to explore a theological anthropology devised principally from a theological reading of the works of Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855). It is argued that Kierkegaard's writings testify to the modem fixation upon the 'self', whilst proposing a theological anthropology that constitutes an attempted recovery from the modem drive for self-possession via isolated introspection. It is the failure of the self to grasp itself through self-reflection that engenders the dialectics of `anxiety', `melancholy', and `despair' which potentially initiate the self s authentic self-becoming `before God'. Kierkegaard's works are thus read as negatively transcribing the failure of the modem self to authenticate itself whilst positively indicating towards a relational theological anthropology which re-situates authentic selfconsciousness in relation to an Other. However, the decisive point for selfhood is that the ̀ other' before whom one stands is th...

2013

Soren Kierkegaard as a prolific riter, composing during his short life 35 intellectually captivating writings. In addition to his dissatisfaction with the state of religion and that of the established church in Denmark, his relationship to his father and his unfulfilled love to his fiance, Regina, gave impulses to his incisive critical reflection. Kierkegaard can be considered a misunderstood prophet of his time who focused his intellectual capacity on topics such as: theology and anthropology – where he emphasized the ‘otherness’ of God and the gravity of human sin, overcome only on the basis of God’s initiative as actualized in daily decisions and acts of following Christ; critique of the power of the press and the indifference of the people to manipulation; and criticism of formal Christianity and the status of the ‘State-Church’ common throughout Europe of his time. Kierkegaard can be considered as one of the forerunners of modern individualistic existentialism, though one with ...

Kierkegaard Studies Yearbook, 2015

We may correctly say that Søren Kierkegaard is one of the most influential Christian-religious thinkers of the modern era, but are we equally justified in categorizing his writings as foundationally religious? This paper challenges a prevailing exclusive-theological interpretation that contends that Kierkegaard principally writes from a Christian dogmatic viewpoint. I argue that Kierkegaard’s religion is better understood as an outcome of his philosophical analysis of human nature. Conclusively, we should appreciate Kierkegaard first as a philosopher, whose aim is the explication of human subjectivity, and not primarily as an orator of Christian orthodoxy.

Modern Theology

When reading through certain areas of Kierkegaard’s writings, there is room to misinterpret his vision of Christianity as being grounded solely in a person’s subjective commitment to her own idea of what Christianity is. In large part, this has contributed to the perception of Kierkegaard as an existentialist who disregards the objective reality of Christianity. In this essay, I contend that Kierkegaard understands the Christian faith as being grounded in a human response to the (mind-independent) reality of the living God who personally involves himself with persons, in history, and does so over against independent or predetermined human ideas of God. To do so, I begin with a close reading of Concluding Unscientific Postscript to Philosophical Fragments, in which I focus on the ways that Kierkegaard’s pseudonym, Johannes Climacus, distinguishes Christianity from immanent forms of religiousness. Following a detailed exposition of Climacus’ argument, I then consider, albeit very briefly, two ways in which Kierkegaard employed this position in his own authorship, looking specifically at his understanding of sin-consciousness and repentance.

A short draft paper with some key aspects of the philosopher-theologian Soren Kierkegaard.