kierkegaard by mark a. tietjen - excerpt

8202019 Kierkegaard By Mark A Tietjen - EXCERPT

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullkierkegaard-by-mark-a-tietjen-excerpt 132

Mark A TietjenForeword by Merold Westphal

KierkegaardA Christian Missionary to Christians






Mark A Tietjen

Foreword by Merold Westphal

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copy10486269830889830891048630 by Mark A ietjen

All rights reserved No part o this book may be reproduced in any orm without written permission rom

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students and aculty active on campus at hundreds o universities colleges and schools o nursing in the United

States o America and a member movement o the International Fellowship o Evangelical Students For

inormation about local and regional activities visit intervarsityorg

Scripture quotations unless otherwise noted are rom the New Revised Standard Version o the Bible copyright

983089983097983096983097 by the Division o Christian Education o the National Council o the Churches o Christ in the USA Used by

permission All rights reserved

While any stories in this book are true some names and identiying inormation may have been changed to protect

the privacy o individuals

Portions o chapter three were published in Mark A ietjen and C Stephen Evans ldquoKierkegaard as a Christian

Psychologistrdquo Journal o Psychology and Christianity 983091983088 no 983092 (1048626983088983089983089) 1048626983095983092-983096983091 Tose portions have been either

adapted or reprinted by permission

Cover design Cindy Kiple

Interior design Beth McGill

Images copy Corbis

ISBN 983097983095983096-983088-983096983091983088983096-983092983088983097983095-983095 (print)

ISBN 983097983095983096-983088-983096983091983088983096-983097983097983093983089-983095 (digital)

Printed in the United States o America

As a member o the Green Press Initiative InterVarsity Press is committed to protectingthe environment and to the responsible use o natural resources o learn more visit

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names ietjen Mark A author

itle Kierkegaard a Christian missionary to Christians Mark A ietjen

oreword by Merold Westphal

Description Downers Grove InterVarsity Press 10486269830889830891048630 | Includes index

Identifiers LCCN 10486269830889830899830939830889830939830889830969830961048630 (print) | LCCN 104862698308898308910486309830889830889830899830929830881048626 (ebook) | ISBN

983097983095983096983088983096983091983088983096983092983088983097983095983095 (pbk alk paper) | ISBN 983097983095983096983088983096983091983088983096983097983097983093983089983095 (eBook)

Subjects LCSH Kierkegaard S983218ren 983089983096983089983091-983089983096983093983093

Classification LCC BX9830929830961048626983095K983093 983093983095 10486269830889830891048630 (print) | LCC BX9830929830961048626983095K983093 (ebook) | DDC

10486269830919830889830889830929830929830889830971048626mdashdc1048626983091

LC record available at httplccnlocgov10486269830889830899830939830889830939830889830969830961048630

P 1048626983091 10486261048626 1048626983089 1048626983088 983089983097 983089983096 983089983095 9830891048630 983089983093 983089983092 983089983091 9830891048626 983089983089 983089983088 983097 983096 983095 1048630 983093 983092 983091 1048626 983089

Y 983091983093 983091983092 983091983091 9830911048626 983091983089 983091983088 1048626983097 1048626983096 1048626983095 10486261048630 1048626983093 1048626983092 1048626983091 10486261048626 1048626983089 1048626983088 983089983097 983089983096 983089983095 9830891048630




CONTENTS

Foreword by Merold Westphal 1048633

Abbreviations 9830891048633

Introduction 983090983089

983089 Kierkegaard Friend to Christians 983090983093

Who Was Kierkegaard the Person 983090983094

Should the Christian Be Suspicious o Philosophy 983091983089

Should the Christian Be Suspicious o Kierkegaard 983091983093

Who Is Kierkegaard the hinker 983092983094

1048626 Jesus Christ 983093983093

God-Human 983093983096

Suicient Savior 983094983092

Pattern 1048631983088

Gentle Savior 1048631983093

1048627 The Human Self 983096983091

he Created Sel 983096983092he Deep Sel Anxiety and Freedom 1048633983088

he Deep Sel Despair and Sin 10486331048631

he Developing Sel 983089983088983089

Implications or Christian Selhood 983089983088983096

983092 Christian Witness 983089983089983089

Direct-Indirect Communication 983089983089983089

Problems with Pastors 983089983089983092

Witnessing to the Way ruth and Lie 9830899830891048631

Varieties o Religious Oense 983089983090983091

Problems with Apologetics 983089983090983096

983093 The Life of Christian Love 983089983091983093

Loversquos Love 983089983091983096

Loversquos Faith 9830899830921048631

Loversquos Hope 983089983093983092

Conclusion 983089983094983089

Suggestions or Further Reading 983089983094983093

Subject Index 9830899830941048631

Scripture Index 9830891048631983089




INTRODUCTION

A P983141983154983155983151983150983137983148 S983156983151983154983161

For a short time during my studies in college I considered the idea o

becoming a Bible translator I had recently taken courses in biblical

Greek and enjoyed it immensely and the idea o spending extended

amounts o time working urther in the language was an exciting

prospect I attended Palm Beach Atlantic University (then College)

which boasts one o the most service-oriented student bodies in the

country At the time every student was required to perorm orty-five

hours o community service each year o college Given the Christian

roots o the school many students chose to go on mission trips all over

the country and world Between my consideration o being a Bible trans-

lator and a college setting where students were deeply invested in mission

work I spent a lot o time thinking about the idea o missions and the

commission Jesus issues in the Gospel o Matthew On the one hand I

elt this was mandatory work or the Christianmdashafer all Jesus doesnrsquot

suggest people ldquogo and make disciples o all nationsrdquomdashhe doesnrsquot say ldquoI

have a nice idea how about doing thisrdquo Rather he commands it

But I also had growing reservations about mission work about how it

was ofen carried out On a study abroad trip to Russia my junior year I

recall running into some Christian missionaries in St Petersburg who

seemed to be spreading the gospel o American culture more than any-thing Tese were people who because they could easily afford it hired

personal drivers to take them around town rather than like us students

use public transportation where they would come nose to nose with




10486261048626 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140

people Tere was a cultural lofiness that seemed to inect whatever

message they had come to tell and I remember thinking to mysel i I

were a Russian I wouldnrsquot listen to themIt was in the midst o this tension between recognizing the Christianrsquos

obligation to mission work and yet the deep problems that accompany

this sort o activity when I came across a quotation in Campus Lie mag-

azine that resonated deep within me ldquoUnless the individual is changed

and steadily continues to change in himsel his introduction o Christi-

anity into a country is no more a religious act than any ordinary act o

conquestrdquo What I appreciated about this quote was that it implied thatmission work must at all times be sel-directed just as much i not more

than at the ldquotargetrdquo audience It implied that one does not speak to others

about religious matters rom a position o superiority and expect to

succeedmdasheither in winning a convert or in pleasing God It suggested to

me that perhaps the best way to spread the aith is to preach a little less

and love a lot more to demonstrate onersquos commitment to God and his

kingdom through acts o thoughtul Christian serviceA ew years later I ollowed my love o biblical Greek to Princeton

Teological Seminary with an interest now in becoming a New es-

tament scholar For various reasons this interest wasmdashlike the translator

ideamdashshort-lived While at seminary however someone recommended

I take a course that was different rom most other courses at the timemdashit

was a seminar on the Danish philosopher Soslashren Kierkegaard Te only

reason I took the course was because I had no idea what I was doing at

seminary and as it turns out in this course I got an idea Dr James Loder

a wonderul teacher and mentor whose aith was unusually transparent

taught the seminar In our exploration o Kierkegaardrsquos writings I was

impressed with a number o thingsmdashhis penetration o the human con-

dition his honesty about the difficulty o being honest with onesel his

willingness to ask challenging questions while remaining aithul his

reminder that the Christian belie in the incarnation is wild and radical

and the priority o loving onersquos neighbor over the nailing down o theo-

logical minutia All o these things and more pushed me in the direction

o studying Kierkegaard urther and ultimately toward the ormal study

o philosophy





Not too long afer I took the course with Dr Loder I was rummaging

through a box o junk rom college and in that box I ound a scrap o

paper a page cut out rom a magazine with silly-putty stains on thecorners rom where it had been affixed to my dorm-room door On the

paper was the quotation rom Campus Lie I had encountered during

college At the bottom was the source a source I had either overlooked

or orgotten and certainly couldnrsquot pronounce O course the quote was

rom Kierkegaard983089

P983157983154983152983151983155983141 983137983150983140 P983148983137983150In the two decades since I first came across that quotation I have become

convinced that Kierkegaard not only has something to say to me but to

all who call themselves Christians In Job 1048632 one o Jobrsquos much-maligned

riends Bildad offers a nugget o wisdom that still rings true more than

three millennia later

For inquire please o bygone ages

and consider what the athers have searched outFor we are but o yesterday and know nothing

or our days on earth are a shadow

Will they not teach you and tell you

and utter words out o their understanding (Job 10486321048632-10486251048624 983141983155983158)

As the people o God Christians are called to seek wisdom rom Godrsquos

people o earlier times Whether in the stories o Scripture the writings

o theologians or the counsel o a parent or grandparent God speaks tous through those who have journeyed beore us In terms o Christian

history Soslashren Kierkegaard is a relatively recent voice though I strongly

suspect his thought offers a timely challenge and corrective to the per-

vasive cultural Christianity and endless chatter o Christianese that

abounds in much o America

Bearing in mind that Kierkegaard in particular and philosophy in

general can be difficult and intimidating undertakings or the unini-tiated I have written this book not or scholars and proessors but or

everyday people Kierkegaard has been accused o being conusing long-

1CUP 1048628983091983091




10486261048628 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140

winded and contradictory and while I think these accusations are mostly

cheap shots I ully admit that there are any number o other Christian

authors that are easier going Because Kierkegaard participates in long-running conversations in philosophy and theology his writing makes

use o technical concepts and language that will have little meaning to

those who do not regularly read such material For that reason I have

done my best to avoid Kierkegaardian or otherwise philosophical jargon

instead Irsquove aimed to translate his words and concepts into a language

Christians today will comprehend without too much difficulty Tough

this might earn the ire o the Kierkegaard scholar I am guessing it willcome as welcome news to my reader

Tis book is not intended as an introduction to Kierkegaardrsquos thought

it is not at all concerned with the all-too-interesting lie o Kierkegaard

and it does not explore Kierkegaard solely as a philosopher Rather his

thought is presented in such a way that the reader might gain insight into

how better to live a Christian lie In chapter one I introduce Kierkegaard

explaining a bit about his lie and thought and addressing some concernsChristians may have about studying him Several Christian writers have

offered warnings about interacting with Kierkegaard claiming his

thought is unbiblical or dangerous I take up a number o those issues

directly Chapters two through five are arranged according to central

themes o Kierkegaardrsquos corpus each o which is central to the lie o the

Christian Chapter two concerns theology Who is Jesus and what mis-

takes plague our understanding o him his gif o salvation to us and his

work in our lie Chapter three explores Kierkegaardrsquos psychology in-

cluding the ollowing sorts o questions What sort o thing is a human

sel How does the sel flourish and how is the sel related to God

Chapter our takes up the communication o Christian truth to the

world How might I aithully testiy to Godrsquos love and saving grace to the

world around me Chapter five addresses the dominant concept o Kier-

kegaardrsquos Christian ethics love




852017

KIERKEGAARD

Friend to Christians

M983161 983143983151983137983148 983145983155 983156983151 983139983151983150983158983145983150983139983141 C983144983154983145983155983156983145983137983150983155 as I have been con-

vinced that Soslashren Kierkegaard is a voice that should be sought and

heard or the edification o the church As a philosopher and a Christian

however I am amiliar with the hesitation some in the church have

about entertaining insights rom philosophy What good is philosophyin the first place and how can philosophy help one become a better

Christian Isnrsquot philosophy a never-ending quest or truth and i so how

does that square with the Christian belie that Jesus is the truth that God

is the Alpha and Omega beginning and end Doesnrsquot philosophy teach

that any opinion is equally valid as any other so long as one gives reasons

to support it no matter what those reasons are Tese are genuine

worries worthy o considerationOn the other hand some Christians may hold philosophy in a pos-

itive light but they are skeptical that Kierkegaard is a voice that can be

trusted Isnrsquot he the ather o existentialism and thus intellectual kin to

atheists like Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus Or isnrsquot he a post-

modernist and doesnrsquot postmodernism clash with Christianity Some o

these more specific concerns about Kierkegaard have been voiced by a

handul o influential Christian theologians and pastors over the past

hal-century Kierkegaardrsquos writings or them would be the last place

to turn or guidance and insight into Christian aith We shall address

some o those views as well First however let us begin with a very brie

sketch o Kierkegaardrsquos lie




10486261048630 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140

W983144983151 W983137983155 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140 983156983144983141 P983141983154983155983151983150983103

Soslashren Aabye Kierkegaard (SUR-in OH-buh KEER-kuh-goh) was born

in Copenhagen Denmark May 852021 1048625104863210486251048627 at the outset o an era o Danishhistory known as the Golden Age ldquoa period o literary and artistic

splendor o a cultural blossomingrdquo that would produce the likes o Hans

Christian Andersen the renowned author o childrenrsquos tales Nikolai

Grundtvig popular educational and ecclesiastical reormer and prolific

hymnodist and Bertel Torvaldsen the neoclassical sculptor983089 Te

greatest influence on Kierkegaardrsquos lie was his ather Michael Pedersen

Kierkegaard (10486259830958520211048630ndash1048625104863210486271048632) who had seven children in all with Soslashrenrsquosmother Michaelrsquos second wie Anne Soslashrensdatter Lund (104862598309510486301048632ndash1048625104863210486271048628) Mi-

chael Kierkegaard was heir to a hosier business and was quite successul

with it and as a result Soslashren never had to work or his income Kier-

kegaard recalls being ldquoavored in every way with regard to mental ca-

pacity and outward circumstancesrdquo (PV 10486321048624) Fify-six at the time o his

youngest sonrsquos birth Michael encouraged Soslashren in Christian aith in a

most rigid and heavy-handed sort o way Yet in spite o some ques-tionable excesses Soslashren seemed generally grateul or his spiritual up-

bringing insoar as he received a ldquodecisive impression o the essentially

Christianrdquo including especially the idea that God is a God o love (BA

104862510486271048632) Tus does Kierkegaard recount that his relationship with Christi-

anity ldquowas closely linked to my relationship with my ather the person I

most deeply lovedrdquo (PV 10486321048624)

Kierkegaard was reared as a Lutheran and member o the Danishstate church and the amily had deep admiration or their pastor

Bishop Jacob Peter Mynster curate at the Church o Our Lady in Co-

penhagen Kierkegaard recalls in his journals how Mynsterrsquos sermons

were read as devotionals by his amily and how his ather encouraged

him to memorize sermons he heard in church (JP 1048630104863010486301048626983095 10486301048627852021852021) Mi-

chael also took the amily to Moravian meetings ldquogiving the young

Soslashrenrdquo C Stephen Evans writes ldquoa strong dose o what might loosely

be termed lsquoevangelical pietismrsquo to leaven Lutheran orthodoxyrdquo983090 Te

1Bruce Kirmmse Kierkegaard in Golden Age Denmark (Bloomington Indiana University Press

104862510486331048633983088) 10486252C Stephen Evans Kierkegaard An Introduction (Cambridge Cambridge University Press 10486269830889830881048633) 1048628-1048629




Kierkegaard 1048626983095

Kierkegaard amily would attend church at the great cathedral Sunday

morning and then participate in Moravian meetings Sunday evening

where the latter ofen involved a ldquosong servicerdquo in which no sermonswere preached but where hymns were sung by congregation members

rom memory1048627 It is reasonable to suppose that the Moravian themes

o repentance the consciousness o sin joy at orgiveness witnessing

and martyrdommdasheach o which we find emphasized in Kierkegaardrsquos

writingsmdashwere deeply impressed on Kierkegaard through these ser-

vices Sylvia Walsh summarizes the strong Moravian influence on Kier-

kegaardrsquos thought ldquoWhat seems to have impressed him most wasthe way they put their belies into practice especially those who were

willing to leave everything to preach the gospel in oreign lands and to

become martyrs or their causerdquo983092 Kierkegaard continued to worship in

the state church until the year beore his death when his criticisms o

official Christianity grew ar more harsh

Given Kierkegaardrsquos rearing it should come as no surprise that his

ather wanted Soslashren to pursue the study o theology which he did at theUniversity o Copenhagen Apparently in little hurry Kierkegaard took

ten years to complete his degree which included attending lectures not

only on biblical exegesis hermeneutics and dogmatic theology but a

number o areas in philosophy including ancient philosophy aesthetics

and logic983093 Perhaps part o the delay owed to Kierkegaardrsquos wandering

away rom aith in the mid-1048625104863210486271048624s and his struggles with doubt drunk-

enness suicidal thoughts and sexual sin Tough his journals leave an

incomplete record o these experiences the apparent autobiographical

nature o many o Kierkegaardrsquos published writings have led scholars to

draw all sorts o conclusions about this time period Among the more

persuasive claims is Walter Lowriersquos observation that when Kierkegaard

portrays immature and lascivious liestyles with authenticity consistency

and even respect Kierkegaard is not only drawing on his own past but

3Andrew J Burgess ldquoKierkegaard Brorson and Moravian Musicrdquo in International KierkegaardCommentary vol 1048626983088 Practice in Christianity (Macon GA Mercer University Press 10486269830889830881048628) 104862610486251048625-1048628983091

4Sylvia Walsh Kierkegaard Tinking Christianly in an Existential Mode (Oxord Oxord University

Press 10486269830889830881048633) 10486295Ibid 1048631




10486261048632 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140

in doing he has ldquosatirized himselrdquo983094 As we shall see in chapter three one

o the virtues o Kierkegaardrsquos reflections on human existence is the

honesty with which he explores a variety o different lie-viewsBy 1048625104863210486271048632 Kierkegaardrsquos aith seems to have reemerged and with un-

usual detail he records in his journal at precisely 1048625104862410486271048624 am May 1048625983097

Tere is an indescribable joy that glows all through us just as inexplicably

as the apostlersquos exclamation breaks orth or no apparent reason ldquoRejoice

and again I say RejoicerdquomdashNot a joy over this or that but the soulrsquos ull

outcry ldquowith tongue and mouth and rom the bottom o the heartrdquo a

joy which cools and rereshes like a breath o air (JP 1048630104862510486261048624 [983075852021104862710486261048628])

Lowrie notes the report o a pastor that a ew weeks ollowing this journal

entry Kierkegaard having taken considerable time off returned to

church or conession and communion giving the impression that like

so many Christians reared in the church there is a time o revolt and

then a time o contrition and renewed aith Tough one can only spec-

ulate as to the cause o the immense joy he describes rom a Christian

perspective it is not difficult to imagine that the joy o his salvation hasbeen restored (Ps 852021104862510486251048626) that the weight o sin has been lifed that he has

received anew Christrsquos gif o orgiveness and new lie On completing his

degree Kierkegaard spent a year in seminary which would qualiy him

or ordination Ten immediately aferward he decided to pursue his

interests in philosophy urther and wrote a dissertation titled Te Concept

o Irony with Continual Reerence to Socrates which earned him the ma-

gisterrsquos degree or the equivalent o a PhDBesides his ather the second major character in Kierkegaardrsquos lie

story was Regine Olsen his onetime fianceacutee and lielong inspiration

Nearly the moment Kierkegaard proposed to Regine in 1048625104863210486281048624 he con-

cluded he had made a grave mistakemdashthat in act he was not cut out or

married lie Although in our day a broken engagement comes with little

negative social effect in nineteenth-century Denmark such an event

caused quite a stir Kierkegaard elt responsible or the trouble he causedRegine and very clearly he still loved her Tus to deflect attention and

blame rom her Kierkegaard took on a public persona o bachelor-

6Walter Lowrie A Short Lie o Kierkegaard (Princeton NJ Princeton University Press 1048625104863310486281048626) 1048633983091





scoundrel about town and appeared to have been rather successul

(though apparently he did not ool Regine) Seven years later Regine

would marry Frederik Schlegel and then just months beore Kierke-gaardrsquos death in November 10486251048632852021852021 the couple would move to the Danish

West Indies where Frederik was appointed governor On reflection Kier-

kegaard came to understand the broken engagement as reeing him to

put to use his God-given intellectual ability Given ractured relation-

ships with his ather and would-be spouse Kierkegaard viewed himsel

and his liersquos work not unlike those who take vows in a religious order

ldquoTis my God-relationship is in many ways the happy love o my un-happy and troubled lierdquo (PV 9830951048625)983095

One o the primary causes o trouble in Kierkegaardrsquos lie came to be

known as the Corsair affair Te Corsair was a widely circulated satirical

paper known or its anonymous commentary on a variety o social and

political issues Afer one o his books Stages on Liersquos Way (104862510486321048628852021) re-

ceived a negative review a provoked Kierkegaard sparred back going so

ar as outing the author who had anonymously published the critiqueTe Corsair responded by attacking Kierkegaard below the beltmdashby

printing caricatured cartoons o him (particularly the uneven length o

his trousers) and making him out to be a lunatic Up to this point in time

Kierkegaard was well known or walking around the city and engaging

in requent conversation with a variety o everyday people Te Corsair

event put an end to these constitutionals as the public joined in on the

finger pointing and grinning Reflecting on the pain o this experience

Kierkegaard writes

One must see it close up the callousness with which otherwise kind

people act in the capacity o the public because their participation or non-

participation seems to them a triflemdasha trifle that with the contributions

o the many becomes the monster One must see how no attack is so

eared as that o laughter because more than any other this attack

isolates the one attacked (PV 1048630852021)

7It is beyond the scope o this book and interest o this author to engage in psychological analysis

o Kierkegaardrsquos closest relationships though many others have not resisted this temptation For

a hefy dose o such analysis see Joakim Garffrsquos Soslashren Kierkegaard A Biography trans Bruce

Kirmmse (Princeton NJ Princeton University Press 10486269830889830881048631)




10486271048624 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140

Besides giving up his public presence in town Kierkegaard gave up the

dream o becoming a country pastor a dream that had suraced over

and over again (and would resurace later) Despite the seminarytraining in his background the Corsair experience seemed to solidiy

the conviction that he was to continue writing no matter the public

scorn he would endure

For a ew more years ollowing the Corsair run-in Kierkegaard con-

tinued to produce an immense amount o work One o his last major

writings Practice in Christianity (104862510486328520211048624) would bring to culmination a

major theme in his work that has come to be known as his ldquoattack uponChristendomrdquo Kierkegaard came to view the state church as a poor re-

flection o New estament Christianity and his criticism intensified on

the occasion o the eulogizing o Mynster as a ldquowitness to the truthrdquo

Although Kierkegaard respected Mynster he ervently believed that

being a ldquowitness to the truthrdquo coincided with a lie o sel-denial and su-

ering like the lives o the disciples and Christ himsel and yet the estab-

lished church much like the church o the Roman emperor Constantinehad the avor o the powerul In the least Kierkegaard desired or the

church o his day to concede that its reflection o New estament Chris-

tianity was aint such a sign o repentance would indirectly validate that

the churchrsquos heart was leaning the right direction But o course neither

Mynster nor his successor and eulogizer Hans Lassen Martensen would

admit such a thing especially on the request o an unemployed sel-

important son o a hosier with uneven trousers

Over the last ew years o his lie Kierkegaardrsquos financial situation

grew tight though he continued to believe that he would never need to

work to earn a living At the age o orty-two Kierkegaard passed out in

the street and died just a ew weeks later in the hospital Keeping up his

attack on Christendom until the very end Kierkegaard amously re-

used to receive communion on his deathbed rom those representing

the state church

Much more could be said about Kierkegaardrsquos lie but I will leave that

to the biographers I conclude this brie sketch by drawing attention to

Kierkegaardrsquos vocation as a writer In his short autobiographical book On

My Work as an Author he states ldquolsquoBeore Godrsquo religiously when I speak





with mysel I call my whole work as an author my own upbringing and

development but not in the sense as i I were now complete or completely

finished with regard to needing upbringing and developmentrdquo (10486251048626)While I have pointed to decisive influences in Kierkegaardrsquos liemdashhis

ather his minister his fianceacuteemdashand decisive experiencesmdashhis church

lie education and spiritual strugglesmdashKierkegaardrsquos ongoing rela-

tionship with God including particularly his sense o calling not to the

pastorate but to a career o writing must contextualize these other

actors Tough much like Paul Kierkegaard concedes he is a woeul

sinner he nevertheless believes God has given him not just rare poeticability but uncommon insight into the human condition and the spir-

itual malaise and hypocrisy that plagued the church o his day In act

the artistry and the observations commend Kierkegaard to us today or

so I plan to show I the major figure in Kierkegaardrsquos story is God as he

himsel might claim then why have some Christians viewed him with

suspicion First though let us back up one step and ask whether the

Christian should worry about philosophy itsel

S983144983151983157983148983140 983156983144983141 C983144983154983145983155983156983145983137983150 B983141 S983157983155983152983145983139983145983151983157983155 983151983142 P983144983145983148983151983155983151983152983144983161983103983096

Perhaps as ar back as the time the great pre-Socratic philosopher Tales

(104863010486261048628ndash85202110486281048630 BCE) ell into a well while contemplating the heavens popular

opinion o philosophers and their work has ranged rom dismissive to

perplexed to suspicious Once again we might imagine our fictitious ob-

jector asking How does contemplating the heavens or working out logical

paradoxes or incessantly asking ldquobut whyrdquo or questioning basic truths

everyone knows contribute to the common good Why should anyone trust

a bunch o navel-gazers who it seems do not quite live on earth who lack

everyday common sense and experience Sure philosophers seem like

smart people but their smarts donrsquot serve any tangible good Philosophers

hang out in the clouds ivory towers and apparently wells

8Some readers may puzzle over this section or example those who have studied in Catholic

colleges and universities in the United States or those who have matriculated through European

universities where philosophy plays a more significant role in a general education curriculum

Tis section is written with the Protestant American reader in mind who may have been influ-

enced by the many and various anti-intellectual strains in evangelical Christianity over the past

several decades Other readers may wish to proceed to the subsequent section




10486271048626 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140

Add to these criticisms specifically Christian concerns philosophy is

a secular activity surely it is not essential or Christians And surely or

those Christians who wish to dabble in it there is great risk Nothing issacred to the philosopher afer all No one expresses this view o phi-

losophy quite like the Roman theologian ertullian (circa 104862510486301048624ndashcirca 10486261048626852021

CE) who lived just a ew generations afer Christ

What is there in common between Athens and Jerusalem Between the

Academy and the church Our system o belies comes rom the Porch o

Solomon who himsel taught that it was necessary to seek God in the

simplicity o the heart We have no need or curiosity afer Jesus Christnor or inquiry afer the gospel When we believe we desire to believe

nothing urther983097

I as the Protestant Reormers would claim more than a millennium later

we are saved by grace alone justified through aith alone able to learn

Christian doctrine through Scripture alone and come to God the Father

through Christ alone then at best philosophy is superfluous and at worst

a potential idol and the path to what Christianly understood is igno-rance not truth I as King Solomon wrote ear o the Lord is the be-

ginning o wisdom (Prov 1048625983095) then what use or benefit could there be

rom any discipline that does not start with aith

ertullianrsquos position one I would describe as an inormed antiphilo-

sophical position (as opposed to an uninormed anti-intellectualist

position) was by no means the consensus opinion o the ancient

church and eventually the overwhelming majority o church theolo-gians would come to reject it In his own day ertullianrsquos position was

contested by Clement o Alexandria (circa 10486258520211048624ndashcirca 10486261048625852021 CE) who

viewed secular learning as a means by which God drew a particular

pagan culture to himsel

For God is the source o all good things some directly (as with the Old

and New estaments) and some indirectly (as with philosophy) But it

might be that philosophy was given to the Greeks immediately anddirectly until such time as the Lord should also call the Greeks For

9ertullian in Alister McGrath ed Te Christian Teology Reader 983091rd ed (Oxord Blackwell

10486269830889830881048631) 1048630





philosophy acted as a ldquocustodianrdquo to bring the Greeks to Christ just as

the law brought the Hebrews9830891048624

Clement thus offers one strategy or the Christian to view philosophy

positivelymdashnamely to consider it part o Godrsquos providential missional

work in the world

A ew centuries later St Augustine (10486278520211048628ndash104862810486271048624 CE) would draw an

analogy between gleaning the best ruit philosophy has to offer and the

Hebrew peoplersquos plundering o Egypt on their way out o town (Ex 104862510486261048627852021-

10486271048630) Gold is gold wherever you find it Te same goes or truth Its value

lies not in its source but in itsel I Christians find truth in an unlikelyplace they ought not deny it but instead bring it to light and make use

o it In act it is plausible that such points o agreement among believers

and nonbelievers could acilitate evangelism In book VII o his autobio-

graphical work Conessions Augustine careully shows how in the

writings o certain pagan philosophers he discovered many true insights

that were compatible with the claims o Scripture Interweaving quota-

tions rom the Gospel o John he writes ldquoAgain I ound in them [thewritings o the Neo-Platonic philosophers] that the Word God was born

not o flesh nor o blood nor o the will o man nor o the will o the flesh

but o God [John 104862510486251048627] but I did not find that the Word became flesh [John

104862510486251048628]rdquo983089983089 Rather than holding philosophersrsquo views in suspicion simply be-

cause they come rom philosophers Augustine like Clement begins

with the assumption that God desires to reveal his truth to all people983089983090

Tereore to some extent all peoplemdasheven those who have not heard thegospel o Jesus Christmdashare capable o discovering some God-revealed

truth perhaps especially those genuinely motivated by the pursuit o

truth and wisdom

o summarize Clement believes philosophy might be the method by

which God seeks to reach certain people with the gospel Augustine be-

lieves that Christians should recognize all truth as Godrsquos truth regardless

10Clement in McGrath Christian Teology Reader 1048628-104862911Augustine Conessions trans F J Sheed ed Michael P Foley (Indianapolis Hackett 10486269830889830881048630) 104862510486261048631

emphasis original12Logicians reer to the error o reasoning in which one rejects an idea not because o the idea but

because o its source as the genetic allacy Tere are good logical and theological reasons to try

to avoid this sort o erroneous thinking




10486271048628 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140

o where it is ound A third response to the concerns about philosophy

expressed above involves thinking more careully about what phi-

losophy is in the first place While there is little agreement amongpresent-day philosophers about its meaning the classical definition o

philosophy can be discerned through a literal translation rom the

Greek ldquothe love o wisdomrdquo Even in the earliest days o philosophy in

fifh-century BCE Greece there were distinctions made between phi-

losophers and others called Sophists who appeared to be interested in

wisdom but quite clearly were motivated instead by power money ame

or simply winning arguments Socrates the ather o Western phi-losophy viewed philosophy and his own vocation as persuading his

ellow citizens to care or virtue and to live lie in accordance with

justice even i such a lie would lead to persecution and death as was

the case with his own lie Obviously given aims (and outcomes) like

these one can see why Clement and Augustine might have viewed phi-

losophy not as a threat but as a worthwhile pursuit

urning to the later medieval modern and contemporary philosophicalworlds the view o philosophyrsquos compatibility with Christianity and with

religion more broadly changes rather dramatically In the medieval period

nearly every Western philosopher was either Christian Jew or Muslim

and thus very ew questioned the compatibility o monotheistic aith and

philosophical inquiry In the modern period (seventeenth to nineteenth

centuries) increasing tension between Christian aith and philosophy

began to mount so that by the early twentieth century the ew theistic

philosophers lef in the West seem quite reticent to disclose their theism

Despite this trajectory in the last fify years and or a variety o reasons

Christian philosophymdashand with it the idea that aith and philosophy are

compatible pursuitsmdashhas risen rom the ashes Te thirty-five-year-old

Society o Christian Philosophers has more than one thousand members

ranking it among the largest groups in the secular American Philosophical

Association (APA) Christian philosophers have contributed not only to

the subdiscipline o ldquophilosophy o religionrdquo but to all areas o philosophy

and no less than seven Christian philosophers have been honored as divi-

sional president o the APA Nowadays many i not most philosophers

would reject the view that philosophyrsquos primary activity is seeking wisdom





Like many other academic disciplines in the West over the past century

there has been increasing specialization and intensified ocus on particular

areas o a discipline As a result many philosophers view their work aspursuing very particular lines o inquiry and seeking answers to very par-

ticular sorts o questions Nevertheless regardless o how one defines phi-

losophy it is quite clear that a growing number o conessing Christians

believe they have been called to take part in the ongoing quests o phi-

losophy bringing salt and light to a community o people who desire truth

and knowledge and in some cases wisdom

S983144983151983157983148983140 983156983144983141 C983144983154983145983155983156983145983137983150 B983141 S983157983155983152983145983139983145983151983157983155 983151983142 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140983103

Clearly there are good reasons to withhold suspicion about philosophy

generally speaking but what about Kierkegaard in particular Tere are

three kinds o concerns the Christian might have about a philosopher

like Kierkegaard First one might wonder what the philosopher believes

Is the philosopher orthodox Are the philosopherrsquos theological views

liberal or conservative Could some o the philosopherrsquos views be con-sidered heretical Second one might be concerned less about the phi-

losopherrsquos own religious belies and more about the philosophy itsel

Does the philosophical thought reflect traditional Christian teaching

Does it ediy the church or does it distract or point away rom genuine

Christian aith Is it little more than a cultural product o its time Tird

stepping back rom the philosopher and his or her work one might

wonder whether to bother inquiring afer the thought o a philosopher

given the attention his or her work has received rom non-Christian

sources Tis is a worry o the ldquoguilt by associationrdquo variety I those who

are not committed to Christ and his church value such-and-such a

thinker the reasoning goes then therersquos got to be something un-Christian

about him something that might threaten the integrity o the Christian

Each o these three types o concern has suraced in the criticism o Kier-

kegaardrsquos thought by a handul o contemporary Christian thinkers

Some have questioned his Christianitymdashhis personal views and practice

others the Christian direction o his work and still others the alleged

consequences o his writings visible in later philosophical and theo-

logical viewpoints




10486271048630 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140

How might one respond to these sorts o concerns In the first case

as some evangelical critics have pointed out Kierkegaard never writes

the ollowing ldquoHere exactly is what I believe about God rdquo Te truthis that most people donrsquot I one trolls around Kierkegaardrsquos work long

enough particularly his own voluminous collection o journals worries

about Kierkegaardrsquos own Christian aith dissipate rather quickly Some

o these conessional entries will be quoted below so I will not say much

more about this now Suffice it to say there is no reason to think his per-

sonal Christian belies were outside the parameters o classic Reormed

Lutheran orthodoxyTe second concern is whether Kierkegaardrsquos work itsel can be con-

sidered Christian in terms o its content and purpose Does it en-

courage the reader to draw closer toward Christ Tere are two ways

to answer this question Te most obvious is to recognize its subjective

nature and to ask those whorsquove spent significant time reading Kier-

kegaard whether theyrsquove grown in aith (see or example ldquoA Personal

Storyrdquo in the introduction) Answers here will likely vary widely andbe little more than anecdotal I one seeks a slightly more objective

response to this question one could examine Kierkegaardrsquos own under-

standing o what his authorship aims to do I his own opinion counts

or something then in the very least one can rest assured that Kier-

kegaardrsquos intentions are themselves consistent with Christian aith

whether or not his execution is successul In one o the many places

he reflects on the religious aims o his writings he describes the

purpose o his authorship as presenting ldquothe ideal picture o being a

Christian so that it can crush with all its weight the presumptu-

ousness o wanting to go urther than being a Christianrdquo (PV 104862510486271048624-10486271048625)

Again as with the first concern it seems this second concern about the

purpose o Kierkegaardrsquos writings can be met successully

What about the third worry arguably the most common that given

Kierkegaardrsquos associations with secular philosophies and liberal theol-

ogies o the twentieth century we can reason backwards and conclude

that we ought to be suspicious o Kierkegaard Importantly this position

rests on a logical error that goes something like this because person x

likes person y and I believe person x to be wrong I can saely assume





person y is thereore wrong Tis argument orm is allacious and implies

something like the ollowing

1 Te amous evolutionary biologist and outspoken atheist Richard

Dawkins likes Jesus9830891048627

2 I believe Dawkinsrsquos aggressive atheism to be wrong

3 Tereore I can saely assume Jesus is wrong

Clearly this is aulty reasoning What it suggests is that one ought to be

apprehensive about dismissing thinkers based on who finds them ap-

pealing (and who does not) Instead one ought to attend to the thinkersand their writings themselves

Let us turn or a moment to two examples o critical readings o Kier-

kegaard by evangelical voices rom the past ew decades First I will

examine Dave Breesersquos discussion o Kierkegaard in Seven Men Who Rule

the World rom the Grave (10486259830979830971048624) which Irsquove selected primarily because it

was published by an influential evangelical publishing company Moody

Press Second I will review the thought o the well-known apologist andpastor Francis Schaeffer Schaeffer many would agree is among the most

influential evangelical thinkers over the past hal-century Both I argue

present incomplete and at times inaccurate pictures o Kierkegaardrsquos

philosophical ideas and as a consequence they mistake and under-

estimate his potential contribution to the lives o Christians I take their

views to be representative o many though certainly not all popular evan-

gelical thinkers

Breese devotes one chapter each to seven figuresmdashDarwin Marx

Wellhausen Dewey Freud Keynes and Kierkegaardmdashhe believes have

had a lasting and dangerous influence on contemporary Western thought

and culture Te copy on the back cover o the book notes how these

thinkers ldquogenerated philosophies that have been ardently grasped by

masses o people but are erroneous and anti-scripturalrdquo Breesersquos actual

discussion o Kierkegaardrsquos thought is rather briemdashour pages on my

count Te majority o the chapter on Kierkegaard is devoted to re-

counting the historical actors that preceded Kierkegaardrsquos thought

13See Richard Dawkins ldquoAtheists or Jesusrdquo wwwrationalresponderscomatheists_or_jesus_a

_richard_dawkins_essay accessed August 10486251048629 104862698308810486251048629




10486271048632 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140

commentary on existentialism by a prominent philosopher and the re-

lationship between existentialism and twentieth-century theology983089983092 In

his discussion o Kierkegaard Breese makes three troubling claims Tefirst pertains not so much to the content o Kierkegaardrsquos thought but

rather its effect on the reader Breese finds Kierkegaard conusing eels

that this is more or less the consensus viewpoint and suspects that con-

usion is Kierkegaardrsquos intended aim Second in highlighting the impor-

tance o the concept o passion in Kierkegaardrsquos thought Breese con-

cludes afer a two-paragraph discussion ldquomany o Kierkegaardrsquos

interpreters suggest that he seems to be saying that passion is everythingrdquo983089983093

Breesersquos third claim about Kierkegaardrsquos thought really is about its effect

on uture philosophy and theology which he calls one o ldquodiffusionrdquo Di-

usion it appears ollows on the coattails o the conusion he believes

Kierkegaard conveyed to his reader to the point that Kierkegaard em-

braced multiple contradictory points o view Te diffusion Kierke-

gaardrsquos thought promotes results in the exaltation o irrationality and

eeling according to BreeseI Breesersquos criticisms o Kierkegaard are accurate then there may be

good reason to end our inquiry here However while each o the three

claims has some basis in Kierkegaardrsquos writings ultimately they lack

support and consequently Breesersquos concerns are unounded Prior to

considering those however I must briefly address Breesersquos research

methodology Unortunately Breese provides no evidence that he has

read Kierkegaard himsel983089983094 His our-page discussion o Kierkegaardrsquos

thought relies on one secondary piece o scholarship Walter Kaumannrsquos

work Existentialism rom Dostoevsky to Sartre and every quotation o

Kierkegaardrsquos that appears is a quotation Breese draws rom Kaumannrsquos

book (In act Breese mistakes Kaumannrsquos subject headings or the titles

o Kierkegaardrsquos works eg ldquoOn His Missionrdquo) Tere are a ew problems

with choosing Kauffmanrsquos text as onersquos primary (let alone only) source o

14Tis five-page section ollows the logic o guilt by association noted above and thus I will not

address it15Dave Breese Seven Men Who Rule the World rom the Grave (Chicago Moody 104862510486331048633983088) 10486261048625104862916In an article published in Christianity oday C Stephen Evans writes that one ldquoreason or the

evangelical neglect o Kierkegaard is simple We have not read his booksrdquo ldquoA Misunderstood

Reormerrdquo Christianity oday 10486261048632 no 1048625983091 (1048625104863310486321048628) 10486261048632





inormation about Kierkegaard particularly when it appears one has not

read the primary material First Kaumannrsquos book is not about Kier-

kegaard but rather a particular philosophical movement existentialismA broader more careul view o the thinker would likely be ound in a

monograph devoted solely to that thinker say an introductory book

about Kierkegaard983089983095 Second the notion that Kierkegaard is the ather o

existentialism let alone an existentialistmdasha clear assumption o

Kaumannrsquos bookmdashis itsel highly questionable and disputed by many

Kierkegaard scholars Existentialism though itsel hard to nail down

seems to operate with a number o basic assumptions that Kierkegaardexplicitly rejects One o these assumptions is the maxim verbalized by

Jean-Paul Sartre ldquoexistence precedes essencerdquo Among other things this

view entails that human lie is defined not by something outside onesel

but by an individualrsquos ree choices What one chooses to do is what con-

stitutes onersquos identity Neither God nor the state nor nature defines the

sel Yet Kierkegaard rejects and even mocks this sort o view time afer

time (We will see in chapter three that Kierkegaard affirms the biblical view that humans are image-bearers o God) Te person who espouses

this kind o radical reedom he jokingly calls ldquoa king without a countryrdquo

(SUD 1048630983097) Tus Breesersquos sole piece o research on Kierkegaard offers an

interpretation o the thinker one has good reason to mistrust

A third worry about relying solely on Kaumannrsquos work pertains to

Kaumann himsel Kaumann was a highly regarded philosopher and a

specialist in Kierkegaard and yet he was also an outspoken atheist

Kaumannrsquos atheism is no reason to reject his commentary on Kier-

kegaard as I warned above (see note 10486251048626) However given Kaumannrsquos

personal disagreement with Kierkegaardrsquos own religious belies many o

which Kierkegaard writes about at great lengths it would seem rea-

sonable and beneficial to in the least supplement onersquos investigation into

Kierkegaard with the scholarship o one more sympathetic to Kierke-

gaardrsquos Christian aith particularly when one o the primary issues at

hand is the toxic effect o Kierkegaardrsquos thought on Christianity Te

scholarship o Christian philosophers like C Stephen Evans Robert L

17I recommend the introductions to Kierkegaard by C Stephen Evans M Jamie Ferreira or Julia

Watkin See my suggestions or urther reading on p 104862510486301048629




10486281048624 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140

Perkins Robert C Roberts Sylvia Walsh or Merold Westphal is in Kier-

kegaard circles more highly regarded secondary literature on Kier-

kegaard anywayLet us turn back however to Breesersquos claims Does Kierkegaard intend

to conuse his reader Is passion everything And can we describe Kier-

kegaardrsquos philosophical thought as embroiled in contradiction and

thereore promoting irrationality Tere is no doubt that to some extent

Kierkegaard does intend to conuse his reader and Breese bases his claim

on a journal entry where Kierkegaard writes that he intends to ldquocreate

difficulties everywhererdquo In the entry rom which the quotation comesKierkegaard remarks that others in his day had made things rather easy

and that since he couldnrsquot find anything else to make easy hersquod do the

opposite make things more difficult I one can detect the humor here

then we can move beyond the surace to ask what conusion is he trying

to causemdashwhat difficulty does he wish to create Is he creating difficulties

just to ool around with people or could there be some earnest purpose

What sorts o things have been made easy In Practice in Christianity Kierkegaard writesmdashagain with a dose o humormdashthat over centuries in

Christendom ldquoone became a Christian without noticing itrdquo that with

regard to becoming a Christian ldquoeverything became as simple as pulling

on onersquos socksrdquo (1048627852021)983089983096 In other words the claims o Christianity ldquoliving

and activerdquo truth as Hebrews 104862810486251048626 says deteriorated into little more than

the rote doctrine one must memorize to be confirmed Rather than mar-

veling at the great paradox that God became a human to save us rom our

sins Christians simply assumed that belie finding it trivial and almost

easy to believe Te laxness characterizing the belies and lives o Kier-

kegaardrsquos contemporaries leads him to ask indignantly

What does it mean that all these thousands and thousands as a matter

o course call themselves Christians Tese many many people o whom

by ar the great majority according to everything that can be discerned

18As we will discuss shortly or a variety o reasons Kierkegaard employed a dozen pseudonyms

as authors o a good portion o his writings He attributes this work to a pseudonym Anti-

Climacus whose thought represents the ideal Christian perspective Tough he claims the

pseudonymsrsquo viewpoints should not be taken as his own one can clearly see in many places like

this quotation that Kierkegaard seems to agree with his pseudonyms Tus unless I have reason

to think Kierkegaard disagrees with a pseudonym I will credit Kierkegaard as author





have their lives in entirely different categories something one can as-

certain by the simplest observation (PV 10486281048625)

It is to his surrounding culture and their religious complacency thereorethat we must understand what Kierkegaard means when he says he

wishes to create difficulties to create conusion Is not the Christian lie

a bit more involved a bit more rigorous than pulling on onersquos socks

Kierkegaard writes at length about the task o loving God and loving

onersquos neighbor and about suffering or the truth Given the emphasis on

these eatures o the Christian lie one can thereore understand why and

how Kierkegaard aims to create difficulties or Christians who view theirreligious commitment as little more than attending church twice a year

or saying ldquoyesrdquo to catechism queries

What about Breesersquos concern that or Kierkegaard passion is every-

thing His brie discussion is underdeveloped although we can get a

sense o his concern given his reerence to a well-known ofen misunder-

stood phrase belonging to one o Kierkegaardrsquos pseudonymous authors

ldquotruth is subjectivityrdquo Kierkegaard believes that Christianityrsquos doctrinalelements belies Christians take to be true entail particular kinds o

religious eelingsmdasheg humble awareness o onersquos sin love or onersquos

neighbormdashas well as actionsmdashsuffering or the truth the humble worship

o God and so on Ofentimes however only the first aspect is empha-

sized by the church ldquoaithrdquo is reduced to a list o beliesmdashgone is the

emotional and active side o Christian existence Given this situation

Christians continue to believe certain truths about God yet live theirlives as he notes ldquoin other categoriesrdquo (BA 104862510486241048627) What Kierkegaard elt

was missing in the Christianity o his day was passion and thus he em-

phasizes its importance to Christian existence and especially onersquos rela-

tionship to God What are aith hope and love Kierkegaard might ask

us i not Christian passions Despite this emphasis on passion or in-

wardness or the subjective side o Christian aith Kierkegaard does not

denigrate or minimize Christian doctrines or what his pseudonym calls

objective truth In act Kierkegaard assumes Christian truth to be true

He simply takes seriously the biblical view that the aith that transorms

a human lie reaches beyond the mind to onersquos heart soul and strengthmdash

to onersquos passions




10486281048626 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140

Breesersquos third concern pertains to what he calls the ldquodiffusionrdquo o Kier-

kegaardrsquos thought which he takes to include a number o contradictory

points o view that consequently subordinate reason to irrationality Inpointing out multiple points o view Breese is likely alluding to Kierke-

gaardrsquos pseudonymous technique whereby he writes several works under

the guise o a variety o pseudonyms and then several other works using

his own name What would motivate Kierkegaard to use such a method

and does this amount to sel-contradiction and the subsequent deni-

gration o reason or rationality One o Kierkegaardrsquos stated aims is to

reintroduce Christianity into Christendom In a sense Kierkegaard is aChristian missionary to Christians Tis odd predicament necessitated

he believed an indirect approach I someone already believes he or she

is a Christian then the direct charge ldquoyou ought to become a Christianrdquo

will make little sense and likely offend or alienate onersquos audience983089983097 So

Kierkegaard decides he will take an indirect approach and provisionally

grant his contemporaries their Christianity and he will write some books

rom a non-Christian point o view with the hopes o generating intro-spection among the ldquoChristiansrdquo o his day So or example around the

same time that he publishes several Scripture-based devotional writings

called upbuilding discourses under his own name he publishes a pseud-

onymous two-volume work called EitherOr that explores lie rom a

non-Christian perspective (in volume one) and a culturally Christian

perspective (in volume two)9830901048624

Reflecting back on this ldquodual-streamrdquo o his authorship Kierkegaard

writes ldquoWith my lef hand I passed EitherOr out into the world with my

right hand wo Upbuilding Discourses but they all or almost all took the

lef hand with their rightrdquo (PV 10486271048630) Tat is to say his contemporaries

nearly all o whom would describe themselves as Christians had much

greater interest in the more entertaining less serious and religiously rig-

orous writings Trough this unusual strategy Kierkegaard hoped to

provoke ldquoChristiansrdquo who were attracted more to the pseudonymous

19We will see in chapter our that Kierkegaard is not opposed to offense ar rom it however he

is careul to differentiate appropriate rom inappropriate orms o Christian offense20Te first volume displays the aesthetic sphere o existence while the second displays the ethical

sphere o existence We will discuss the spheres o existence in detail in chapter three





writings than the religious writings to sel-reflect and take a hard honest

look at their own aith commitments I one understands Kierkegaardrsquos

unusual methodology and sees its relation to the stated objectives o hisauthorship then the contradictions o various pseudonymsrsquo writings

donrsquot amount to actual contradictions on the part o Kierkegaard Tey

show that in act certain worldviews and liestyles are in tension or in

contradiction with the Christian worldview and liestyle something

anyone would grant

What about the exaltation o irrationality over rationality Tis leads

us to Francis Schaefferrsquos interpretation o Kierkegaard Schaeffer deservesenormous credit or his work across several decades modeling how bib-

lical Christianity might engage the philosophical world o ideas which

has impacted how we all live Schaeffer discusses Kierkegaard in a

number o his well-known works including Te God Who Is Tere

Escape rom Reason and How Should We Ten Live Given his historical

survey approach to philosophy and theology his primary interest in

Kierkegaard is not so much Kierkegaardrsquos thought as it is ldquoKierkegaard-ianismrdquo as he calls it or ldquoKierkegaardian existentialismrdquo in both its

secular and religious orms Irsquove given reason above to question and quite

possibly reject the association o Kierkegaard with existentialism so I

will not repeat those objections again and neither will I explore Schae-

errsquos claims that Kierkegaardrsquos thought naturally leads to Camus Sartre

or on the theological side Karl Barth and Paul illich In my estimation

those claims rest on a variety o philosophical constructs that Schaeffer

creates to show how we have arrived where we are in an age that has or

lack o better terms lost its reason Despite Schaefferrsquos commitment to

tracing the movement o ideas through history I find those constructs

unconvincing and a bit too simplistic

At the center o Kierkegaardrsquos alleged existentialism and irrationality

according to Schaeffer is the concept o the leap o aith and in nearly

every discussion o Kierkegaard across Schaefferrsquos works this concept is at

the ore Schaeffer is not alone in linking Kierkegaard primarily with the

idea o a leap o aith It is interesting to note however that the expression

ldquoleap o aithrdquo never occurs in Kierkegaardrsquos published work Moreover as

Mariele Nientied claims ldquothe terms lsquoaithrsquo and lsquoleaprsquo rarely appear in the




10486281048628 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140

same contexts nor do variants o these wordsrdquo983090983089 I this is the case then

why does Schaeffer alongside esteemed philosophers like Alasdair Mac-

Intyre view Kierkegaard as promoting a orm o irrationalismOne o the great projects o philosophy dating rom classical philoso-

phers like Socrates and Zeno to modern thinkers like Hume and Kant is

the exploration o the limits o human reason Philosophers have tradi-

tionally claimed that lie ought to be guided primarily by reason (as op-

posed say to emotions) and yet only the insane or remarkably arrogant

would believe that human reason is a aculty without limit As a Lutheran

Christian Kierkegaard believed that human reason was limited notsimply by cognitive constraints but by our moral and spiritual short-

comings Put in theological terms human reason has been negatively

affected by sin Tus our limited ability to discover truth is not simply

because wersquore not smart enough but because wersquore not good enoughmdash

our character is deeply flawed As a result Kierkegaard is highly critical

o reasonmdashnot generally speaking but when it takes the orm o hubris

or ethical and religious evasion when it ails to recognize its limitsMerold Westphal captures Kierkegaardrsquos view o the triumphal attitudes

reason sometimes takes ldquowhen human thought calls itsel lsquoReasonrsquo this

is all too ofen little more than sel-capitulation and even sel deceptionrdquo983090983090

Philosophers Kierkegaard and St Augustine would suggest are experts

at using reason in the service o putting off commitment and service to

others and to God Afer all the philosopher can always develop more

arguments raise more objections introduce more considerations ad

nauseam Why donrsquot we keep talking keep thinking so long as we donrsquot

actually have to do anything

Kierkegaard is highly critical o this tendency or excessive reflec-

tiveness in philosophy which sets the stage or his use o the concept o

the leap Leap primarily reers to the ldquocategory o decisionrdquo (CUP 983097983097)

whereby one chooses or example to trust God just as the old hymn

21Mariele Nientied ldquoKierkegaard Without lsquoLeap o Faithrsquordquo in Pre-Proceedings o the 983090983094th Interna-tional Wittgenstein Symposium (Austrian Ludwig Wittgenstein Society Kirchberg am Wechsel

1048626983088983088983091) 1048626104863098309122Merold Westphal Whose Community Which Interpretation Philosophical Hermeneutics or the

Church (Grand Rapids Baker Academic 10486269830889830881048633) 104862510486291048625 See also Westphalrsquos Kierkegaardrsquos Critiqueo Reason and Society (Macon GA Mercer University Press 1048625104863310486321048631)





goes ldquoI have decided to ollow Jesusrdquo It is important to see that trusting

God in just this way is not a decision one makes because Godrsquos existence

has been philosophically proven But it does not ollow rom this thatwhen one places trust in God one does so or no reason or without reason

or necessarily against reason Schaeffer accuses Kierkegaard o not

reading the Bible careully enough because when he recounts the story

o Abrahamrsquos binding o Isaac in his work Fear and rembling he said it

was ldquoan act o aith with nothing rational to base it upon or to which to

relate itrdquo9830901048627 According to Schaeffer Kierkegaard ailed to acknowledge

that Abrahamrsquos actions are not irrational given that he had seen andheard rom God that ldquoGodrsquos words at this time were in the context o

Abrahamrsquos strong reason or knowing that God both existed and was

totally trustworthyrdquo983090983092 Unortunately Schaefferrsquos criticism here misses the

mark and trades on a bit o equivocation

As it turns out Kierkegaard is well aware o the biblical story o

Abraham quoting constantly rom Scripture in his retelling o Abra-

hamrsquos obedience to God In act Schaefferrsquos criticism that Kierkegaardemphasizes aith over reason in discussing Abraham really seems a cri-

tique not o Kierkegaard but o the author o Hebrews 10486251048625 Following the

rerain o Hebrews 10486251048625 Kierkegaard repeatedly introduces the events in

Abrahamrsquos lie that climaxed in the binding o Isaac by showing how

these occurred ldquoby aithrdquo ldquoBy aith Abraham emigrated rom the land

o his athers and became a oreigner in the promised landrdquo Kierkegaard

writes ldquoBy aith Abraham received the promise that in his seed all the

generations o the world would be blessedrdquo (F 10486251048628) Emphasizing aith

in this context seems biblically andmdashrom a Reormed perspectivemdash

theologically correct It seems that when Schaeffer speaks o reason or

rationality in the context o Abraham he is using it in the everyday

sense in which we say one has a reason or doing this or that O course

using this everyday sense o reason sociopaths have reasons or their

actions even though we would question their rationality It goes without

saying that Abraham obeys Godrsquos command to sacrifice Isaac or the

23Francis Schaeffer Te God Who Is Tere in Te Complete Works o Francis Schaeffer (Westchester

IL Crossway Books 1048625104863310486321048626) 10486251048625104862924Ibid 10486251048629-10486251048630




10486281048630 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140

reason that he believes in God trusts God has a history with God ul-

filling his promises and so on But saying Abraham has good reason to

ollow Godmdashsomething with which Kierkegaard would heartily agreemdashis a ar cry rom calling Abrahamrsquos obedience ldquorationalrdquo It seems at that

point rationality becomes a matter o perspective and needs some

precise definition From the perspective o those who do not believe in God

or who believe child sacrifice to be universally prohibitedmdashsomething

Abrahamrsquos descendants would come to believemdashAbrahamrsquos obedience

seems irrational Tis is why Kierkegaard calls Abrahamrsquos obedience absurd

Is his obedience absurd or irrational rom the perspective o aith O coursenot Abraham is the paragon o aith But i one is willing to recognize and

then sympathize with other vantage pointsmdasheven vantage points one be-

lieves to be incorrectmdashone can see why others would view such an action

as absurd or irrational

I conclude thereore that the concept o the leap o aithmdasha concept

ar less important to Kierkegaardrsquos work than many thinkmdashdoes not

entail irrationality at all Schaefferrsquos grandiose claims that ollow this as-sessmentmdashthat afer Kierkegaard ldquoone must try to find meaning without

reasonrdquo or one must give up ldquohope o a unity o knowledge and a unity

o lierdquo and remain content with ldquoa ragmented concept o realityrdquomdashdo

not ollow at all983090983093 For a decisive reutation o the alleged irrationality o

Kierkegaard I commend C Stephen Evansrsquos ldquoIs Kierkegaard an

Irrationalistrdquo983090983094 I conclude this section by quoting Evansrsquos 104862598309710486321048628 article on

Kierkegaard in Christianity oday ldquoPoor Kierkegaard has suffered more

than any author I know o rom a generation o evangelical ignorancerdquo983090983095

W983144983151 I983155 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140 983156983144983141 T983144983145983150983147983141983154983103

Unlike Breese and Schaeffer a number o present-day Christian scholars

preachers and authors have drawn inspiration rom Kierkegaardrsquos

thought I have already mentioned several Christian philosophers Pres-

byterian pastor imothy Keller and popular author Philip Yancey have

25Schaeffer How Should We Ten Live in Complete Works 1048629104862510486311048633 104862510486331048633 Schaeffer thankully con-

cedes ldquoTere can and will be a continuing discussion among scholars as to whether the secular

and religious thinkers who built on Kierkegaard did him justicerdquo (ibid 104862510486311048633)26C Stephen Evans ldquoIs Kierkegaard an Irrationalistrdquo Religious Studies 10486261048629 (1048625104863310486321048633) 98309110486281048631-1048630104862627C Stephen Evans ldquoA Misunderstood Reormerrdquo Christianity oday September 10486261048625 1048625104863310486321048628 10486261048632









Mark A Tietjen





InterVarsity Press


ivpresscom

emailivpresscom

















Images copy Corbis

ISBN 983097983095983096-983088-983096983091983088983096-983092983088983097983095-983095 (print)

ISBN 983097983095983096-983088-983096983091983088983096-983097983097983093983089-983095 (digital)













10486269830919830889830889830929830929830889830971048626mdashdc1048626983091


P 1048626983091 10486261048626 1048626983089 1048626983088 983089983097 983089983096 983089983095 9830891048630 983089983093 983089983092 983089983091 9830891048626 983089983089 983089983088 983097 983096 983095 1048630 983093 983092 983091 1048626 983089

Y 983091983093 983091983092 983091983091 9830911048626 983091983089 983091983088 1048626983097 1048626983096 1048626983095 10486261048630 1048626983093 1048626983092 1048626983091 10486261048626 1048626983089 1048626983088 983089983097 983089983096 983089983095 9830891048630




CONTENTS









1048626 Jesus Christ 983093983093

God-Human 983093983096


Pattern 1048631983088


1048627 The Human Self 983096983091















Conclusion 983089983094983089


Subject Index 9830899830941048631





INTRODUCTION

A P983141983154983155983151983150983137983148 S983156983151983154983161


























10486261048626 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140
































o philosophy
































1CUP 1048628983091983091




10486261048628 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140
































852017

KIERKEGAARD


























10486261048630 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140

W983144983151 W983137983155 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140 983156983144983141 P983141983154983155983151983150983103































































Press 10486269830889830881048633) 10486295Ibid 1048631




10486261048632 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140
























































Kierkegaard writes














10486271048624 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140




























the state church
























S983144983151983157983148983140 983156983144983141 C983144983154983145983155983156983145983137983150 B983141 S983157983155983152983145983139983145983151983157983155 983151983142 P983144983145983148983151983155983151983152983144983161983103983096





















10486271048626 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140





























10486269830889830881048631) 1048630









work in the world



















truth and wisdom











10486271048628 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140













































S983144983151983157983148983140 983156983144983141 C983144983154983145983155983156983145983137983150 B983141 S983157983155983152983145983139983145983151983157983155 983151983142 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140983103























logical viewpoints




10486271048630 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140

























































gelical thinkers















10486271048632 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140








































































10486281048624 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140








































































10486281048626 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140










































anyone would grant





























10486281048628 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140





































































10486281048630 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140























W983144983151 I983155 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140 983156983144983141 T983144983145983150983147983141983154983103













InterVarsity Press


ivpresscom

emailivpresscom

















Images copy Corbis

ISBN 983097983095983096-983088-983096983091983088983096-983092983088983097983095-983095 (print)

ISBN 983097983095983096-983088-983096983091983088983096-983097983097983093983089-983095 (digital)













10486269830919830889830889830929830929830889830971048626mdashdc1048626983091


P 1048626983091 10486261048626 1048626983089 1048626983088 983089983097 983089983096 983089983095 9830891048630 983089983093 983089983092 983089983091 9830891048626 983089983089 983089983088 983097 983096 983095 1048630 983093 983092 983091 1048626 983089

Y 983091983093 983091983092 983091983091 9830911048626 983091983089 983091983088 1048626983097 1048626983096 1048626983095 10486261048630 1048626983093 1048626983092 1048626983091 10486261048626 1048626983089 1048626983088 983089983097 983089983096 983089983095 9830891048630




CONTENTS









1048626 Jesus Christ 983093983093

God-Human 983093983096


Pattern 1048631983088


1048627 The Human Self 983096983091















Conclusion 983089983094983089


Subject Index 9830899830941048631





INTRODUCTION

A P983141983154983155983151983150983137983148 S983156983151983154983161


























10486261048626 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140
































o philosophy
































1CUP 1048628983091983091




10486261048628 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140
































852017

KIERKEGAARD


























10486261048630 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140

W983144983151 W983137983155 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140 983156983144983141 P983141983154983155983151983150983103































































Press 10486269830889830881048633) 10486295Ibid 1048631




10486261048632 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140
























































Kierkegaard writes














10486271048624 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140




























the state church
























S983144983151983157983148983140 983156983144983141 C983144983154983145983155983156983145983137983150 B983141 S983157983155983152983145983139983145983151983157983155 983151983142 P983144983145983148983151983155983151983152983144983161983103983096





















10486271048626 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140





























10486269830889830881048631) 1048630









work in the world



















truth and wisdom











10486271048628 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140













































S983144983151983157983148983140 983156983144983141 C983144983154983145983155983156983145983137983150 B983141 S983157983155983152983145983139983145983151983157983155 983151983142 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140983103























logical viewpoints




10486271048630 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140

























































gelical thinkers















10486271048632 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140








































































10486281048624 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140








































































10486281048626 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140










































anyone would grant





























10486281048628 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140





































































10486281048630 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140























W983144983151 I983155 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140 983156983144983141 T983144983145983150983147983141983154983103













CONTENTS









1048626 Jesus Christ 983093983093

God-Human 983093983096


Pattern 1048631983088


1048627 The Human Self 983096983091















Conclusion 983089983094983089


Subject Index 9830899830941048631





INTRODUCTION

A P983141983154983155983151983150983137983148 S983156983151983154983161


























10486261048626 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140
































o philosophy
































1CUP 1048628983091983091




10486261048628 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140
































852017

KIERKEGAARD


























10486261048630 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140

W983144983151 W983137983155 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140 983156983144983141 P983141983154983155983151983150983103































































Press 10486269830889830881048633) 10486295Ibid 1048631




10486261048632 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140
























































Kierkegaard writes














10486271048624 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140




























the state church
























S983144983151983157983148983140 983156983144983141 C983144983154983145983155983156983145983137983150 B983141 S983157983155983152983145983139983145983151983157983155 983151983142 P983144983145983148983151983155983151983152983144983161983103983096





















10486271048626 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140





























10486269830889830881048631) 1048630









work in the world



















truth and wisdom











10486271048628 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140













































S983144983151983157983148983140 983156983144983141 C983144983154983145983155983156983145983137983150 B983141 S983157983155983152983145983139983145983151983157983155 983151983142 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140983103























logical viewpoints




10486271048630 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140

























































gelical thinkers















10486271048632 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140








































































10486281048624 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140








































































10486281048626 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140










































anyone would grant





























10486281048628 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140





































































10486281048630 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140























W983144983151 I983155 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140 983156983144983141 T983144983145983150983147983141983154983103













INTRODUCTION

A P983141983154983155983151983150983137983148 S983156983151983154983161


























10486261048626 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140
































o philosophy
































1CUP 1048628983091983091




10486261048628 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140
































852017

KIERKEGAARD


























10486261048630 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140

W983144983151 W983137983155 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140 983156983144983141 P983141983154983155983151983150983103































































Press 10486269830889830881048633) 10486295Ibid 1048631




10486261048632 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140
























































Kierkegaard writes














10486271048624 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140




























the state church
























S983144983151983157983148983140 983156983144983141 C983144983154983145983155983156983145983137983150 B983141 S983157983155983152983145983139983145983151983157983155 983151983142 P983144983145983148983151983155983151983152983144983161983103983096





















10486271048626 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140





























10486269830889830881048631) 1048630









work in the world



















truth and wisdom











10486271048628 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140













































S983144983151983157983148983140 983156983144983141 C983144983154983145983155983156983145983137983150 B983141 S983157983155983152983145983139983145983151983157983155 983151983142 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140983103























logical viewpoints




10486271048630 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140

























































gelical thinkers















10486271048632 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140








































































10486281048624 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140








































































10486281048626 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140










































anyone would grant





























10486281048628 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140





































































10486281048630 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140























W983144983151 I983155 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140 983156983144983141 T983144983145983150983147983141983154983103













10486261048626 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140
































o philosophy
































1CUP 1048628983091983091




10486261048628 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140
































852017

KIERKEGAARD


























10486261048630 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140

W983144983151 W983137983155 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140 983156983144983141 P983141983154983155983151983150983103































































Press 10486269830889830881048633) 10486295Ibid 1048631




10486261048632 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140
























































Kierkegaard writes














10486271048624 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140




























the state church
























S983144983151983157983148983140 983156983144983141 C983144983154983145983155983156983145983137983150 B983141 S983157983155983152983145983139983145983151983157983155 983151983142 P983144983145983148983151983155983151983152983144983161983103983096





















10486271048626 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140





























10486269830889830881048631) 1048630









work in the world



















truth and wisdom











10486271048628 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140













































S983144983151983157983148983140 983156983144983141 C983144983154983145983155983156983145983137983150 B983141 S983157983155983152983145983139983145983151983157983155 983151983142 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140983103























logical viewpoints




10486271048630 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140

























































gelical thinkers















10486271048632 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140








































































10486281048624 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140








































































10486281048626 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140










































anyone would grant





























10486281048628 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140





































































10486281048630 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140























W983144983151 I983155 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140 983156983144983141 T983144983145983150983147983141983154983103









































1CUP 1048628983091983091




10486261048628 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140
































852017

KIERKEGAARD


























10486261048630 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140

W983144983151 W983137983155 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140 983156983144983141 P983141983154983155983151983150983103































































Press 10486269830889830881048633) 10486295Ibid 1048631




10486261048632 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140
























































Kierkegaard writes














10486271048624 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140




























the state church
























S983144983151983157983148983140 983156983144983141 C983144983154983145983155983156983145983137983150 B983141 S983157983155983152983145983139983145983151983157983155 983151983142 P983144983145983148983151983155983151983152983144983161983103983096





















10486271048626 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140





























10486269830889830881048631) 1048630









work in the world



















truth and wisdom











10486271048628 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140













































S983144983151983157983148983140 983156983144983141 C983144983154983145983155983156983145983137983150 B983141 S983157983155983152983145983139983145983151983157983155 983151983142 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140983103























logical viewpoints




10486271048630 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140

























































gelical thinkers















10486271048632 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140








































































10486281048624 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140








































































10486281048626 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140










































anyone would grant





























10486281048628 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140





































































10486281048630 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140























W983144983151 I983155 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140 983156983144983141 T983144983145983150983147983141983154983103













10486261048628 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140
































852017

KIERKEGAARD


























10486261048630 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140

W983144983151 W983137983155 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140 983156983144983141 P983141983154983155983151983150983103































































Press 10486269830889830881048633) 10486295Ibid 1048631




10486261048632 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140
























































Kierkegaard writes














10486271048624 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140




























the state church
























S983144983151983157983148983140 983156983144983141 C983144983154983145983155983156983145983137983150 B983141 S983157983155983152983145983139983145983151983157983155 983151983142 P983144983145983148983151983155983151983152983144983161983103983096





















10486271048626 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140





























10486269830889830881048631) 1048630









work in the world



















truth and wisdom











10486271048628 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140













































S983144983151983157983148983140 983156983144983141 C983144983154983145983155983156983145983137983150 B983141 S983157983155983152983145983139983145983151983157983155 983151983142 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140983103























logical viewpoints




10486271048630 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140

























































gelical thinkers















10486271048632 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140








































































10486281048624 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140








































































10486281048626 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140










































anyone would grant





























10486281048628 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140





































































10486281048630 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140























W983144983151 I983155 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140 983156983144983141 T983144983145983150983147983141983154983103













852017

KIERKEGAARD


























10486261048630 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140

W983144983151 W983137983155 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140 983156983144983141 P983141983154983155983151983150983103































































Press 10486269830889830881048633) 10486295Ibid 1048631




10486261048632 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140
























































Kierkegaard writes














10486271048624 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140




























the state church
























S983144983151983157983148983140 983156983144983141 C983144983154983145983155983156983145983137983150 B983141 S983157983155983152983145983139983145983151983157983155 983151983142 P983144983145983148983151983155983151983152983144983161983103983096





















10486271048626 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140





























10486269830889830881048631) 1048630









work in the world



















truth and wisdom











10486271048628 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140













































S983144983151983157983148983140 983156983144983141 C983144983154983145983155983156983145983137983150 B983141 S983157983155983152983145983139983145983151983157983155 983151983142 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140983103























logical viewpoints




10486271048630 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140

























































gelical thinkers















10486271048632 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140








































































10486281048624 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140








































































10486281048626 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140










































anyone would grant





























10486281048628 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140





































































10486281048630 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140























W983144983151 I983155 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140 983156983144983141 T983144983145983150983147983141983154983103













10486261048630 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140

W983144983151 W983137983155 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140 983156983144983141 P983141983154983155983151983150983103































































Press 10486269830889830881048633) 10486295Ibid 1048631




10486261048632 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140
























































Kierkegaard writes














10486271048624 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140




























the state church
























S983144983151983157983148983140 983156983144983141 C983144983154983145983155983156983145983137983150 B983141 S983157983155983152983145983139983145983151983157983155 983151983142 P983144983145983148983151983155983151983152983144983161983103983096





















10486271048626 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140





























10486269830889830881048631) 1048630









work in the world



















truth and wisdom











10486271048628 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140













































S983144983151983157983148983140 983156983144983141 C983144983154983145983155983156983145983137983150 B983141 S983157983155983152983145983139983145983151983157983155 983151983142 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140983103























logical viewpoints




10486271048630 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140

























































gelical thinkers















10486271048632 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140








































































10486281048624 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140








































































10486281048626 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140










































anyone would grant





























10486281048628 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140





































































10486281048630 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140























W983144983151 I983155 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140 983156983144983141 T983144983145983150983147983141983154983103











































Press 10486269830889830881048633) 10486295Ibid 1048631




10486261048632 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140
























































Kierkegaard writes














10486271048624 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140




























the state church
























S983144983151983157983148983140 983156983144983141 C983144983154983145983155983156983145983137983150 B983141 S983157983155983152983145983139983145983151983157983155 983151983142 P983144983145983148983151983155983151983152983144983161983103983096





















10486271048626 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140





























10486269830889830881048631) 1048630









work in the world



















truth and wisdom











10486271048628 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140













































S983144983151983157983148983140 983156983144983141 C983144983154983145983155983156983145983137983150 B983141 S983157983155983152983145983139983145983151983157983155 983151983142 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140983103























logical viewpoints




10486271048630 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140

























































gelical thinkers















10486271048632 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140








































































10486281048624 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140








































































10486281048626 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140










































anyone would grant





























10486281048628 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140





































































10486281048630 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140























W983144983151 I983155 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140 983156983144983141 T983144983145983150983147983141983154983103













10486261048632 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140
























































Kierkegaard writes














10486271048624 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140




























the state church
























S983144983151983157983148983140 983156983144983141 C983144983154983145983155983156983145983137983150 B983141 S983157983155983152983145983139983145983151983157983155 983151983142 P983144983145983148983151983155983151983152983144983161983103983096





















10486271048626 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140





























10486269830889830881048631) 1048630









work in the world



















truth and wisdom











10486271048628 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140













































S983144983151983157983148983140 983156983144983141 C983144983154983145983155983156983145983137983150 B983141 S983157983155983152983145983139983145983151983157983155 983151983142 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140983103























logical viewpoints




10486271048630 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140

























































gelical thinkers















10486271048632 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140








































































10486281048624 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140








































































10486281048626 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140










































anyone would grant





























10486281048628 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140





































































10486281048630 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140























W983144983151 I983155 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140 983156983144983141 T983144983145983150983147983141983154983103



































Kierkegaard writes














10486271048624 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140




























the state church
























S983144983151983157983148983140 983156983144983141 C983144983154983145983155983156983145983137983150 B983141 S983157983155983152983145983139983145983151983157983155 983151983142 P983144983145983148983151983155983151983152983144983161983103983096





















10486271048626 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140





























10486269830889830881048631) 1048630









work in the world



















truth and wisdom











10486271048628 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140













































S983144983151983157983148983140 983156983144983141 C983144983154983145983155983156983145983137983150 B983141 S983157983155983152983145983139983145983151983157983155 983151983142 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140983103























logical viewpoints




10486271048630 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140

























































gelical thinkers















10486271048632 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140








































































10486281048624 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140








































































10486281048626 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140










































anyone would grant





























10486281048628 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140





































































10486281048630 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140























W983144983151 I983155 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140 983156983144983141 T983144983145983150983147983141983154983103













10486271048624 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140




























the state church
























S983144983151983157983148983140 983156983144983141 C983144983154983145983155983156983145983137983150 B983141 S983157983155983152983145983139983145983151983157983155 983151983142 P983144983145983148983151983155983151983152983144983161983103983096





















10486271048626 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140





























10486269830889830881048631) 1048630









work in the world



















truth and wisdom











10486271048628 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140













































S983144983151983157983148983140 983156983144983141 C983144983154983145983155983156983145983137983150 B983141 S983157983155983152983145983139983145983151983157983155 983151983142 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140983103























logical viewpoints




10486271048630 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140

























































gelical thinkers















10486271048632 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140








































































10486281048624 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140








































































10486281048626 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140










































anyone would grant





























10486281048628 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140





































































10486281048630 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140























W983144983151 I983155 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140 983156983144983141 T983144983145983150983147983141983154983103





























S983144983151983157983148983140 983156983144983141 C983144983154983145983155983156983145983137983150 B983141 S983157983155983152983145983139983145983151983157983155 983151983142 P983144983145983148983151983155983151983152983144983161983103983096





















10486271048626 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140





























10486269830889830881048631) 1048630









work in the world



















truth and wisdom











10486271048628 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140













































S983144983151983157983148983140 983156983144983141 C983144983154983145983155983156983145983137983150 B983141 S983157983155983152983145983139983145983151983157983155 983151983142 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140983103























logical viewpoints




10486271048630 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140

























































gelical thinkers















10486271048632 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140








































































10486281048624 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140








































































10486281048626 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140










































anyone would grant





























10486281048628 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140





































































10486281048630 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140























W983144983151 I983155 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140 983156983144983141 T983144983145983150983147983141983154983103













10486271048626 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140





























10486269830889830881048631) 1048630









work in the world



















truth and wisdom











10486271048628 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140













































S983144983151983157983148983140 983156983144983141 C983144983154983145983155983156983145983137983150 B983141 S983157983155983152983145983139983145983151983157983155 983151983142 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140983103























logical viewpoints




10486271048630 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140

























































gelical thinkers















10486271048632 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140








































































10486281048624 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140








































































10486281048626 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140










































anyone would grant





























10486281048628 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140





































































10486281048630 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140























W983144983151 I983155 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140 983156983144983141 T983144983145983150983147983141983154983103


















work in the world



















truth and wisdom











10486271048628 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140













































S983144983151983157983148983140 983156983144983141 C983144983154983145983155983156983145983137983150 B983141 S983157983155983152983145983139983145983151983157983155 983151983142 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140983103























logical viewpoints




10486271048630 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140

























































gelical thinkers















10486271048632 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140








































































10486281048624 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140








































































10486281048626 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140










































anyone would grant





























10486281048628 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140





































































10486281048630 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140























W983144983151 I983155 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140 983156983144983141 T983144983145983150983147983141983154983103













10486271048628 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140













































S983144983151983157983148983140 983156983144983141 C983144983154983145983155983156983145983137983150 B983141 S983157983155983152983145983139983145983151983157983155 983151983142 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140983103























logical viewpoints




10486271048630 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140

























































gelical thinkers















10486271048632 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140








































































10486281048624 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140








































































10486281048626 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140










































anyone would grant





























10486281048628 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140





































































10486281048630 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140























W983144983151 I983155 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140 983156983144983141 T983144983145983150983147983141983154983103






















S983144983151983157983148983140 983156983144983141 C983144983154983145983155983156983145983137983150 B983141 S983157983155983152983145983139983145983151983157983155 983151983142 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140983103























logical viewpoints




10486271048630 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140

























































gelical thinkers















10486271048632 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140








































































10486281048624 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140








































































10486281048626 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140










































anyone would grant





























10486281048628 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140





































































10486281048630 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140























W983144983151 I983155 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140 983156983144983141 T983144983145983150983147983141983154983103













10486271048630 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140

























































gelical thinkers















10486271048632 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140








































































10486281048624 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140








































































10486281048626 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140










































anyone would grant





























10486281048628 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140





































































10486281048630 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140























W983144983151 I983155 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140 983156983144983141 T983144983145983150983147983141983154983103


































gelical thinkers















10486271048632 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140








































































10486281048624 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140








































































10486281048626 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140










































anyone would grant





























10486281048628 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140





































































10486281048630 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140























W983144983151 I983155 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140 983156983144983141 T983144983145983150983147983141983154983103













10486271048632 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140








































































10486281048624 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140








































































10486281048626 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140










































anyone would grant





























10486281048628 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140





































































10486281048630 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140























W983144983151 I983155 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140 983156983144983141 T983144983145983150983147983141983154983103

















































10486281048624 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140








































































10486281048626 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140










































anyone would grant





























10486281048628 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140





































































10486281048630 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140























W983144983151 I983155 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140 983156983144983141 T983144983145983150983147983141983154983103
















































10486281048626 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140










































anyone would grant





























10486281048628 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140





































































10486281048630 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140























W983144983151 I983155 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140 983156983144983141 T983144983145983150983147983141983154983103




















anyone would grant





























10486281048628 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140





































































10486281048630 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140























W983144983151 I983155 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140 983156983144983141 T983144983145983150983147983141983154983103













10486281048628 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140





































































10486281048630 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140























W983144983151 I983155 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140 983156983144983141 T983144983145983150983147983141983154983103
















































10486281048630 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140























W983144983151 I983155 K983145983141983154983147983141983143983137983137983154983140 983156983144983141 T983144983145983150983147983141983154983103











kierkegaard by mark a. tietjen - excerpt

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