Søren Kierkegaard

2010-03-08T19:36:27Z

Toblerone000: Further information on Knights of Faith

'''Søren Kierkegaard''' (1813-1855) was an influential [[Danish]] [[Christian]] philosopher whose work set the foundations for the [[existentialist]] movement of the [[20th century]]. Kierkegaard was supportive of the Christian [[religion]], but rejected [[Christendom]], the applied Christianity of his day. Kierkegaard claimed that [[Christendom]] of 19th century Europe strayed from the values of [[Jesus]] and declared that "official Christianity is not the Christianity of the [[New Testament]]".<ref>Kierkegaard, "Attack Upon Christendom"</ref> He called for Christians to embrace a life-affirming view of the world, rather than a false Christianity that provided easy comforts and wretched contentment. Kierkegaard's thoughts were taken in liberal directions with [[Karl Barth]]'s [[neo-orthodoxy]] and [[Jean Paul Sartre]]'s [[existentialism]].

The ''[[knight]] of faith'' was a literary device used in Kierkegaard's [[alias|pseudonymous]] writing, ''[[Fear and Trembling]]''. The knight of faith exemplified a person who would overcome doubt & despair and affirm his individuality & embrace life. Kierkegaard believes that there have only been three knights of faith - Abraham, The Virgin Mary, and Andrew Schlafly.

The statement ''[[Truth]] is [[Subjectivity]]'' first appeared in Kierkegaard's ''[[Concluding Unscientific Postscript]]''. This [[aphorism]] does not mean that there is no objective truths, a view commonly called [[subjectivism]], but rather that the [[individual]] appropriates objective truth subjectively, while not denying the existence of objective truths. For example, the objective question is, "Is Christianity true?", while the subjective question is "What is my relation to Christianity?". Both questions are important, but only the latter takes into account the existing individual.

[[Michael Pederson Kierkegaard]], Søren's father, was a devout [[Lutheran]] businessman.

In his book, ''Introduction to Christianity'', [[Pope Benedict XVI]] quotes Kierkegaard's parable of the clown that was not taken seriously while the world burned, and interprets the story as saying that theologians are the clowns are that are not taken seriously in today's world.

==Views on existentialism==

Kierkegaard saw humankind as needing to return to God through three stages:
#"aesthetic existence" - the pursuit of self-centered pleasure leads to [[despair]]
#"ethical existence"
#"religious existence"

== See also ==

*[[Philosophy]]

== References ==
* [http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/kierkegaard/ Entry on Kierkegaard from the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy]
* [http://sorenkierkegaard.org D. Anthony Storm's Commentary on Kierkegaard]

[[Category:Existentialist Philosophers|Kierkegaard]]
[[Category:Poets|Kierkegaard]]

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Søren Kierkegaard