Søren Kierkegaard

Søren Kierkegaard

Søren Kierkegaard was a Danish philosopher, theologian, and literary critic whose writings in the nineteenth century shaped existentialism, Christianity studies, modern philosophy, and theology. His work engaged figures and institutions across Denmark, Germany, France, and England while dialoguing with traditions traceable to Plato, Aristotle, Augustine of Hippo, and Martin Luther. Kierkegaard's authorship combined pseudonymous fiction, polemical essays, and theological treatises that influenced later thinkers such as Friedrich Nietzsche, Karl Barth, Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, and Martin Heidegger.

Life

Born in Copenhagen in 1813 to a family connected with Danish mercantile and religious circles, Kierkegaard was the son of Michael Pedersen Kierkegaard and Ane Sørensdatter Lund. He studied at the University of Copenhagen where he engaged with the contemporary work of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and the Young Hegelians, as well as with the literature of Hans Christian Andersen and the intellectual currents of Romanticism. Personal events—family deaths, an engagement to Regine Olsen, and disputes with clergy at Trinitatis Church—shaped his outlook on individuality, faith, and suffering. Kierkegaard lived much of his adult life in Copenhagen neighborhoods near Frederiksborg Castle and the Christiansborg Palace, publishing prolifically and engaging in public controversies with figures such as Bishop Mynster and critics tied to the Danish Church. He died in 1855 and was buried at Assistens Cemetery.

Philosophical Work

Kierkegaard developed a theory of subjectivity, existential choice, and the stages of life—esthetic, ethical, and religious—responding to German idealism exemplified by Hegel and the historical-critical approaches of scholars like David Friedrich Strauss. He emphasized inwardness and the "leap of faith" as counterpoints to systems proposed by Immanuel Kant and G.W.F. Hegel, arguing that truth is subjectivity in a way that resonated with later existentialists such as Karl Jaspers and Gabriel Marcel. His analyses of despair, anxiety, and individuality intersected with psychological insights advanced by Sigmund Freud and later psychiatric models influenced by Emil Kraepelin. Kierkegaard’s critique of institutional Lutheranism engaged debates about Pietism and influenced theologians including Paul Tillich and Reinhold Niebuhr.

Major Writings

Kierkegaard’s output includes pseudonymous works like Either/Or, Fear and Trembling, and Philosophical Fragments, as well as signed theological texts such as Works of Love and Practice in Christianity. Either/Or juxtaposed aesthete and ethicist perspectives, drawing on literary forms used by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Søren Aabye Kierkegaard's contemporaries; Fear and Trembling offered a reading of the biblical figure Abraham against the backdrop of German Idealism. Philosophical Fragments and Concluding Unscientific Postscript debated the nature of truth with interlocutors like Jacob Peter Mynster and the philological critiques of Friedrich Schleiermacher. His theological texts engaged scriptural exegesis of passages from the New Testament and wrestling with doctrines associated with Augustine, Anselm of Canterbury, and John Calvin. Later collections such as The Sickness Unto Death and Works of Love addressed despair and Christian ethics in terms that anticipated discussions by Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Rudolf Bultmann.

Theology and Religious Influence

Kierkegaard’s theology centered on individuality before God, the paradox of the incarnation, and the existential requirements of Christian discipleship as debated within Lutheran doctrine and wider Protestant contexts. He contested what he saw as complacency in the Danish State Church and engaged polemically with clergy like Bishop Mynster and critics in periodicals such as Fædrelandet. His emphasis on paradox influenced theologians including K.E. Løgstrup, Karl Barth, and Paul Tillich, and shaped twentieth-century movements like neo-orthodoxy and existential theology. Kierkegaard’s reading of biblical figures—Abraham, Job, and Christ—provided existential models taken up by Søren Kierkegaard’s readers across Europe and the United States and informed pastoral practice in denominations from Lutheranism to Evangelicalism.

Reception and Legacy

During his lifetime Kierkegaard provoked controversy in Danish intellectual circles, facing critique from journalists, clergy, and academics associated with institutions such as the University of Copenhagen and presses like Berlingske Tidende. After his death his writings gained traction through translators, editors, and scholars including Georg Brandes, Walter Lowrie, and later interpreters like Edmund F. Conklin and Howard V. Hong. Kierkegaard’s thought informed existentialist literature by Sartre and Camus, theological revival in the work of Barth and Bonhoeffer, and philosophical anthropology in studies by Heidegger and Jaspers. His influence extends to contemporary debates in phenomenology, hermeneutics, psychiatry, and literary theory, maintaining presence in university curricula at institutions like Harvard University, University of Oxford, and University of Copenhagen. His legacy is commemorated in centers and societies such as the Kierkegaard Research Centre and annual conferences hosted by organizations including the International Kierkegaard Society.

Category:Philosophers Category:Danish theologians Category:19th-century writers