He has been called a boring windbag who “…deliberately sets out to be tortuous.”[1] Philip Yancy acknowledges that at times his writings have perplexed him.[2]

They are speaking about the Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard, whom many have call the Father of Existentialism, although he did not coin the term.

In his book, Philosophy & The Christian Faith, Colin Brown writes that “Kierkegaard deliberately sets out to be tortuous and…in order to bring his reader to the desired goal, Kierkegaard often found it necessary to be devious.”[3]

The author of over 35 books, Soren Kierkegaard’s (1813-1855) writings were mostly ignored outside of his native Denmark until the 20th century.

Anna Louise Strelis Söderquist, St. Olaf College curator of the Hong Kierkegaard Library argues that “Kierkegaard’s work still has burning relevance for us today, wherever we live and whatever our backgrounds, for he meets his reader in the inner depths, where reside the personal, yet universal questions about who one is and how one ought to live.”[4]

Kierkegaard (1813-1855) was a devout Christian who was grieved over the condition of the Lutheran church in Denmark, the State Church.

Shelley O’Hara writes, “Kierkegaard was incensed by the lack of involvement it took to be a Christian, and he felt that Official Christianity or Christendom had departed so far from the New Testament teachings that it needed to be torn down and rebuilt…Kierkegaard…was not attacking the teachings of Christianity, but the official way it was sanctioned and carried out by the Lutheran Church at the time.”[5]

His anger was so great toward the Lutheran Church he refused communion while on his death bed.

If you have read or attempted to read Kierkegaard you know that he can be a difficult read and one may wonder if it would be beneficial to read his works.

One would benefit greatly by reading Lee C. Barrett’s (PhD, Yale) instructive book Kierkegaard as Theologian. As Professor of Theology, at Lancaster Theological Seminary at Moravian University, he has written extensively on Kierkegaard including several books and articles.

What makes this book so instructive and helpful, especially for those new to the philosopher’s writings? Before reading selections from Kierkegaard, Barrett summarizes the text in great detail, making Kierkegaard’s writings much easier to understand.

The texts that Barrett’s comments on are several of Kierkegaard’s more familiar writings, including For Self-Examination, Judge For Yourself, Either/Or, The Sickness Unto Death, and Fear and Trembling, among others.

He also explains Kierkegaard’s theological style:

Kierkegaard’s work as an exercise in theology requires some explanation and justification, for Kierkegaard’s writings do not resemble anything remotely like a collection of standard theological texts. If he counts as a theologian at all, he certainly was not a typical one.[6]

At the end of every chapter Barrett supplies questions for reflection, which may prove helpful to readers as they digest and savor what both Kierkegaard and Barrett are saying. It is certainly not a book to rush through.

Barrett’s book simply titled Kierkegaard (Abingdon Press) is another helpful read to understanding Kierkegaard’s writings.

Reviewed by Larry Russi

Publisher’s page: https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/tt-clark-reader-in-kierkegaard-as-theologian-9780567670373/

Notes

[1] Colin Brown, Philosophy & The Christian Faith (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press,1968),125

[2] Søren Kierkegaard, Provocations: Spiritual Writings of Kierkegaard (Farmington, PA: The Plough Publishing House, 1999, back cover

[3] Colin Brown, Philosophy & The Christian Faith (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press,1968),125

[4] Claire Strother, “A World-Renowned Center for the Study of Kierkegaard” St. Olaf Magazine (Spring/Summer 2022), 23.

[5] Shelley O’Hara, Kierkegaard Within Your Grasp (Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2004), 6

[6]Lee C. Barrett, ed. T & T Clark Reader in Kierkegaard as Theologian (NY: Bloomsbury, 2018), 1

An article in the August/September 2016 issue of Philosophy Now asks, “Is Kierkegaard Still Relevant Today?”[1] Author Mark A. Tietjen, who teaches at the Stony Brook School in New York and is the author of Kierkegaard, Communication, and Virtue: Authorship as Edification, makes a solid argument that Kierkegaard is indeed relevant today.

In this present volume Tietjen begins chapter one as follows, “My goal is to convince Christians as I have been convinced that Soren Kierkegaard is a voice that should be sought and heard for the edification of the church” (p. 25). Kierkegaard’s aim was to reintroduce Christianity into Christendom, hence the title of the book, A Christian Missionary to Christians.

Tietjen writes most convincingly as to whether a Christian should be suspicious of philosophy in general and Kierkegaard in particular. He puts to rest any fears one may have about philosophy by first citing its usefulness from noted Christians such as Clement and Augustine. Tietjen writes, “… Clement and Augustine might have viewed philosophy not as a threat but as a worthwhile pursuit.” (p. 34)

He alleviates any fears or suspicions about Kierkegaard that one may have by revealing his faith in God and theology. Tietjen records the following:

If one trolls around Kierkegaard’s work long enough, particularly his own voluminous collection of journals, worries about Kierkegaard’s own Christian faith dissipate rather quickly … there is no reason to think his personal Christian beliefs were outside the parameters of classic Reformed, Lutheran orthodoxy … in the very least one can rest assured that Kierkegaard’s intentions are themselves consistent with Christian faith (p. 36).

Mark A. Tietjen

Without these explanations one might discontinue reading Tietjen’s work and miss out on a clear and scholarly critique of Kierkegaard’s writings.

Tietjen tackles most adeptly and in great detail the writings of Kierkegaard on the subjects in chapters entitled “Jesus Christ”, “The Human Self”, “Christian Witness”, and “The Life of Christian Love.”

In the chapter entitled Jesus Christ, Tietjen writes, “Jesus did not come to be admired but to get followers, to be imitated… a Christian strives to be like Jesus, while an admirer does not.” (p. 73)

And he reminds us of the many people that Kierkegaard alluded to that Jesus reaches out to and gives the invitation to come to him—the lonely, poor, physically ill and disabled, those who experience emotional suffering, the abused, the suicidal and despairing, those in relational pain, and of course, the sinner (pp. 79-80).