This site examines the pseudonymous and signed works of Søren Aabye Kierkegaard (5 May 1813–13 November 1855), a deeply Christian thinker who used indirect communication—what he called “wounding from behind”—to guide people toward truth. He believed God approaches each individual mysteriously. He wrote many upbuilding (edifying) discourses throughout his writing career, as many as 80.
A’s papers contain a number of attempts to formulate an aesthetic philosophy of life. A single, coherent, aesthetic view of life can scarcely be carried out. B’s papers contain an ethical view of life. As I let this thought sink into my soul, it became clear to me that I might make use of it in choosing a title. The one I have selected precisely expresses this. Either-or Vol 1 by Victor Eremita 1843 Swenson 1971 p. 13-14
Alas, the doors of fortune do not open inward, so that by storming them one can force them open; but they open outward, and therefore nothing can be done. Either-or Vol 1 P. 23 … “What is the power that binds me? How was the chain made with which the Fenris wolf was bound? It was wrought from the sound of a cat’s paws walking over the ground, from women’s beards, from the roots of rocks, from the nerves of bears, from the breath of fishes, and the spittle of birds. And thus I, too, am bound in a chain formed of dark imaginings, of unquiet dreams, of restless thoughts, of dread presentiments, of inexplicable anxieties. This chain is “very supple, soft as silk, elastic under the highest tension, and cannot be broken in two.” Either/Or Vol I p. 33
Alas the gates of heaven do not open inward but they open outward so the crowd is unable to push their way through. Only the single individual is invited.
Just consider, your life is passing; for you, too, the time will eventually come even to you when your life is at an end, when you are no longer shown any further possibilities in life, when recollection alone is left, recollection, but not in the sense in which you love it so much, this mixture of fiction and truth, but the earnest and faithful recollection of your conscience. Beware that it does not unroll a list for you-presumably not of actual crimes but of wasted possibilities, showdown pictures it will be impossible for you to drive away. Either-or Vol 2 1843 p. 16 Hong 1988
Was Kierkegaard a Christian?
Did he write about Christianity in order to trick people out of Christianity?
It was thus Socrates understood himself, and thus he thought that everyone must understand himself, in the light of this understanding interpreting his relationship to each individual, with equal humility and with equal pride. He had the courage and self-possession to be sufficient unto himself. Philosophical Fragments by Johannes Climacus Edited by Soren Kierkegaard Copyright 1844, Swenson Translation 1936 p. 9
When the disciple is in a state of Error and now receives the condition and the Truth he becomes another man, a new creature. … Let us call this transition the New Birth, in consequence of which the disciple enters the world quite as at the first birth, an individual human being knowing nothing as yet about the world into which he is born, whether it is inhabited, whether there are other human beings in it besides himself; for while it is indeed possible to be baptized en masse, it is not possible to be born anew en masse. Philosophical Fragments p. 13-14
But when the God becomes a Teacher, his love cannot be merely seconding and assisting, but is creative, giving a new being to the learner, or as we have called him, the man born anew; by which designation we signify the transition from non-being to being. The truth then is that the learner owes the Teacher everything. Philosophical Fragments p. 24
Many books written by Søren Kierkegaard and about him are available in audio format on Audible as well as on Librivox (free audio).
“Every earthly or worldly good is in itself selfish, begrudging; its possession is begrudging or is envy and in one way or another must make others poorer – what I have someone else cannot have; the more I have, the less someone else must have. …
Not so with the goods of the spirit. In its concept, the good of the spirit is communication, its possession merciful, in itself communication. If a person has faith, he truly has not thereby taken anything away from others; on the contrary – indeed, it is strange but true – by having faith, he has worked for all others (even apart from what he does directly to communicate to others); during the time he was working to acquire faith for himself, he was working for all others.” Soren Kierkegaard Christian Discourses. April 26, 1848 p. 116-117 Hong 1997 Kierkegaard and Marx pictured to the left.
Why did Kierkegaard write so many books about Christianity?
Why did he use the Bible in his later books?
