The Quiet Lake and the Hidden Spring: Locating the Ground in Kierkegaard's Works of Love

2021 ◽  
pp. 095394682110593
Author(s):  
G. P. Marcar
Keyword(s):  
Soren Kierkegaard ◽  
Jacob Boehme ◽  
Works Of Love

At the end of the prayer with which he begins Works of Love (1847), Søren Kierkegaard notes that while ‘works of love’ might normally be viewed as a subset of worthwhile human endeavours or ‘works’, from heaven's perspective no work can be pleasing unless it is a work of love. From this arises the question—which Kierkegaard himself moves swiftly to address—of what distinguishes a work of ‘love’ from other, non-loving works? In this article, and with particular reference to Jacob Boehme (1575–1624), I highlight how Kierkegaard's answer to this question draws upon the theological tradition that Bernard McGinn has called ‘the mysticism of the ground’.

scholarly journals In the Middle of Love: At the Fringes of Personhood. An Explorative Essay on the Dialogue of I and Thou and the Poetics of the Impersonal

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 435
Author(s):  
Kasper Lysemose
Keyword(s):  
Soren Kierkegaard ◽  
Martin Buber ◽  
Word Of God ◽  
Middle Term ◽  
I And Thou ◽  
God's Love ◽  
Works Of Love ◽  
Philosophy Of Dialogue ◽  
The Absolute ◽  
Dyadic Relation

In Works of Love, Søren Kierkegaard introduces the idea that God’s love is “the middle term.” It is a love that manages to be in the middle of all created being. To that extent, love is not just one relation among others, but the “being-in-relation” as such. It is, in Heideggerian terms, “the with” of being-with. This implies, further, that the middle is as inconspicuous as it is ubiquitous. According to Martin Buber, however, there is a privileged relation to the middle in the I–Thou relation. It is here that it reveals itself. For Buber, this is so on the strength of two important traits of this dyadic relation: that it is dialogical and personal. It is in dialogue that I and You are responsive to the word of God; and it is in personal co-presence that the theophany of “the absolute person” may occur. This paper explores these tenets of “philosophy of dialogue” at their fringes. Accordingly, it explores the impersonal in the person and the monologue in dialogue. More specifically, it aims to show how: (a) the impersonal in the person is disclosed in love and angst and how (b) the monologue in dialogue is expressed in a poetics of the impersonal.

scholarly journals Det næstekærlige fællesskab: Bemærkninger til kristendommens selv-dekonstruktion

2017 ◽  
pp. 57
Author(s):  
Kasper Lysemose
Keyword(s):  
Soren Kierkegaard ◽  
The Self ◽  
Works Of Love ◽  
Christian Love ◽  
Specific Configuration ◽  
General Ontology

The paper presents the self-deconstruction of Christianity in the guise of two claims: i. The God withdrawn is part in a community of those who are abandoned by God – namely as the ‘with’ of their being-with. ii. Christian love is the reserve in Christianity that exposes us to this very being-with – i.e. to something in Christianity “older” than Christianity itself. Jean-Luc Nancy’s general ontology of being-with and its specific configuration as a ‘deconstruction of Christianity’ is introduced. Subsequently this deconstruction is traced in The Works of Love by Søren Kierke-gaard. Artiklen præsenterer kristendommens selv-dekonstruktion i form af to teser: i. Den tilbagetrukne Gud er med i fællesskabet af dem, der er forladt af Gud – nemlig som ‘medet’ i deres med-væren. ii. Den kristne kærlighed er den reserve i kristendommen, som eksponerer os for netop denne med-væren – dvs. for noget i kristendommen, der er “ældre” end kristendommen selv. Der introduceres til Jean-Luc Nancys generelle med-værens ontologi og dens specifikke udformning som en ‘dekonstruktion af kristendommen’. Herefter efterspores denne dekonstruktion i Kjerlighedens Gjerninger af Søren Kierkegaard.

scholarly journals Disability, Anthropology, and Flourishing with God: A Kierkegaardian Account

Religions ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 189
Author(s):  
Joshua Cockayne
Keyword(s):  
Soren Kierkegaard ◽  
Cognitive Disabilities ◽  
Human Being ◽  
Human Flourishing ◽  
Relationship With God ◽  
Works Of Love ◽  
Disability Theology

How can the writings of Søren Kierkegaard address contemporary issues in the theology of disability? For while it is surely true that Kierkegaard had ‘no concept of “disability” in the contemporary sense’ of the term, I will argue that there is much in Kierkegaard’s writings that addresses issues related to disability. I begin by exploring Kierkegaard’s discussion of suffering and its application to disability theology. I argue that while this has some application, it doesn’t get to the heart of the issue, since a theology of disability must address more than the issue of suffering. Instead, I argue, we should look to Kierkegaard’s anthropology because it is here that we find a vision of what it is to be truly human, and, therefore, how we might understand what it means for those with disabilities to be truly human. To do this, I outline the account of the human being as spirit in The Sickness Unto Death, noting its inability to include certain individuals with severe cognitive disabilities. A straightforward reading of Sickness suggests that Kierkegaard would think of those with cognitive disabilities as similar to non-human animals in various respects. Noting the shortcomings of such an approach, I then offer a constructive amendment to Kierkegaard’s anthropology that can retain Kierkegaard’s concern that true human flourishing is found only in relationship with God. While Kierkegaard’s emphasis on teleology can be both affirming and inclusive for those with disability, I argue that we need to look to Kierkegaard’s account of ‘neighbor’ in Works of Love to overcome the difficulties with his seemingly exclusive anthropology.

Polemical Epilogue

2020 ◽  
pp. 185-224
Author(s):  
K. E. Løgstrup
Keyword(s):  
Soren Kierkegaard ◽  
The Other ◽  
Proper Understanding ◽  
Human Vulnerability ◽  
Human Needs ◽  
Good Samaritan ◽  
Works Of Love ◽  
Real Value ◽  
The Right

This chapter offers a critique of Søren Kierkegaard, as well as contemporary Kierkegaardians such as K. Olesen Larsen. It challenges Kierkegaard’s own account of the love commandment offered in the latter’s Works of Love. It is argued that Kierkegaard denudes our existence as living creatures of real value, and so makes our relation to God paramount. The command to love the neighbour therefore no longer becomes a command to care for the other person in their human needs, but instead to put them into the right relation to God. It is argued that this is a fundamental distortion of Jesus’s intention as illustrated by the parable of the Good Samaritan: here, it is earthly concern that is on display, and thus a valorization of all our human vulnerability on which the proper understanding of Jesus’s proclamation must rely.

scholarly journals God, the Middle Term: Bonhoeffer, Kierkegaard, and Christ’s Mediation in Works of Love

Religions ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 78
Author(s):  
Koert Verhagen
Keyword(s):  
Soren Kierkegaard ◽  
Christian Life ◽  
Middle Term ◽  
Ethical Implications ◽  
Social Sphere ◽  
The Social ◽  
Works Of Love ◽  
Key Aspects

In this article, I argue that in Works of Love Søren Kierkegaard stays true to his Lutheran roots in detailing an ethic of neighbor love that draws deeply on and unfolds the implications of the inseparable realities of justification and Christ’s mediation in the social sphere. The article unfolds in two parts. Since neither of these realities are explicit in Works of Love, the first part considers Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s account of Christ as mediator in order to provide a framework for thinking about and identifying their presence in Kierkegaard’s thought. Engaging with Bonhoeffer in this manner is particularly useful, not least because he was deeply influenced by Kierkegaard and also stood in the Lutheran tradition, but also because although he outlines the expansive nature of Christ’s mediatorial work to tantalizing effect, he never unfolds its concrete, ethical implications for the Christian life. With the key aspects of Bonhoeffer’s account in mind, the second part of this article demonstrates and argues for an overlooked theological dynamic in Works of Love: namely, that Kierkegaard’s account of God’s mediation not only shares these keys aspects, but also unfolds the ethical implications of Christ’s mediation for the Christian life.

Sören Kierkegaard as Psychoanalyst

1982 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 219-220
Author(s):  
Henry Samuel Levinson
Keyword(s):  
Soren Kierkegaard

A Short Life of Kierkegaard

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Walter Lowrie ◽  
Alastair Hannay
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Soren Kierkegaard ◽  
The State ◽  
Young Girl ◽  
Love Affair ◽  
Short Life ◽  
The Past ◽  
Modern Thought ◽  
Hans Christian Andersen

A small, insignificant-looking intellectual with absurdly long legs, Søren Kierkegaard (1813–1855) was a veritable Hans Christian Andersen caricature of a man. A strange combination of witty cosmopolite and melancholy introvert, he spent years writing under a series of fantastical pseudonyms, lavishing all the splendor of his mind on a seldom-appreciative world. He had a tragic love affair with a young girl, was dominated by an unforgettable Old Testament father, fought a sensational literary duel with a popular satiric magazine, and died in the midst of a violent quarrel with the state church for which he had once studied theology. Yet this iconoclast produced a number of brilliant books that have profoundly influenced modern thought. This classic biography presents a charming and warmly appreciative introduction to the life and work of the great Danish writer. It tells the story of Kierkegaard's emotionally turbulent life with a keen sense of drama and an acute understanding of how his life shaped his thought. The result is a wonderfully informative and entertaining portrait of one of the most important thinkers of the past two centuries.

As dúvidas de Kierkegaard: ou sobre o legado pedagógico do romantismo alemão

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 223-238
Author(s):  
Jean Vargas
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Soren Kierkegaard ◽  
German Idealism ◽  
Sao Paulo ◽  
Harvard University ◽  
German Romanticism ◽  
São Paulo ◽  
Don Juan ◽  
Cambridge University ◽  
Belo Horizonte

Resumo: O artigo leva em conta a recepção de Kierkegaard sobre o modo como os românticos lidam com o conhecimento e argumenta que o dinamarquês tem algo a dizer sobre temáticas de educação que estão hoje na ordem do dia. O artigo mostra ainda como Kierkegaard lida com temas transdisciplinares e em que medida a herança romântica, em contraposição ao legado iluminista, o ajuda a conceber sua reflexão pedagógica e existencial.Palavras-chave: Kierkegaard. Educação. Romantismo alemão. Pedagogia. Dúvida Abstract: The article takes into account Kierkegaard's reception of how the romantics deal with knowledge and argues that the Danish has something to say about education issues that are today the order of the day. The article also shows how Kierkegaard deals with transdisciplinary themes and to what extent the romantic heritage, in contrast to the enlightened legacy, helps him to conceive his pedagogical and existential reflection. Keywords: Kierkegaard. Education. German romanticism. Pedagogy. Doubt. REFERÊNCIASBEISER, Frederick. German Idealism: The Struggle against subjectivism 1781-1801. Londres: Harvard University Press, 2002.BERLIN, Isaiah. As raízes do romantismo. São Paulo: Três Estrelas, 2015.GRAMMONT, Guiomar de. Don Juan, Fausto e o Judeu Errante em Kierkeggard. Petrópolis: Catedral das Letras, 2003.KIERKEGAARD, Søren. Johannes Clímacus ou é preciso duvidar de tudo. São Paulo: Martins Fontes, 2003.KIERKEGAARD, Søren. Ponto de vista explicativo da minha obra de escritor: uma comunicação direta, relatório à História. Tradução de João Gama. Lisboa: Edições 70, 2002._______. Ou-ou: um fragmento de vida. Volume I. Tradução de Elisabete M. de Sousa. Lisboa: Relógios’d’água, 2013a._______. Pós-escrito conclusivo não científico às Migalhas filosóficas: coletânea mímico-patético-dialética, contribuição existencial, por Johannes Climacus.  Tradução de Álvaro L. M, Valls. Petrópolis: Vozes, 2013. v.1._______. Temor e Tremor. Tradução de Maria José Marinho. São Paulo: Abril cultural, 1974. (Os pensadores).LÖWITH, Karl. De Hegel à Nietzsche. Tradução de Rémi Laureillard, Paris: Gallimard, 1969.PATTINSON, George. Kierkegaard, Religion and the Nineteenth-Century Crisis of Culture. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2004.SAFRANSKI, Rudiger. Romantismo: uma questão alemã. Tradução de Rita Rios. São Paulo: Estação Liberdade, 2010.VALLS, Álvaro; MARTINS, Jasson. (Org.). Kierkegaard no nosso tempo. São Leopoldo: Nova Harmonia, 2010.VARGAS, Jean. Kierkegaard entre a existência e o niilismo. Puc Minas: Sapere Aude, Belo Horizonte, v.6–n.12, Jul./Dez.2015, p. 657-671.VARGAS, Jean. Indivíduo e multidão: uma reflexão sobre o lugar da ética no pensamento de Søren Kierkegaard. UFMG: Outramargem, Belo Horizonte, V.  - n., 2 Semestre 2014, p. 99-109.

Entre o mestre e o discípulo nas Migalhas Filosóficas: a existência educadora em Kierkegaard

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 155-174
Author(s):  
Fransmar Costa Lima
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
Rio De Janeiro ◽  
Research Study ◽  
Buenos Aires ◽  
Soren Kierkegaard ◽  
Sao Paulo ◽  
São Paulo ◽  
Basic Point ◽  
The Individual

Resumo: O artigo que ora se apresenta é, na realidade, um pequeno ensaio que tem por finalidade indagar a importância da educação no pensamento de Søren Kierkegaard e investigar se, no âmbito da existência como possibilidade, uma educação voltada para a subjetividade se mostra efetiva diante dos debates acerca da liberdade e da singularidade do indivíduo. Pouco se debate sobre o conceito de educação em Kierkegaard, porém, acreditamos que se trata de um ponto basilar no pensamento do filósofo dinamarquês, conforme buscamos demonstrar, e deve ser objeto de maiores pesquisas, estudos e reflexões. Tomamos como referência para o início desse debate textos como as Migalhas Filosóficas e o Post-Scriptum, onde a subjetividade e a singularidade aparecem como conceitos fundamentais.Palavras-chave: Educação. Existência. Singularidade. Subjetividade. Kierkegaard. Abstract: The present article is, in fact, a small essay whose purpose is to investigate the importance of education in Søren Kierkegaard's thinking and to investigate whether, in the scope of existence as a possibility, an education focused on subjectivity is effective before the debates about the freedom and the singularity of the individual. There is little debate about the concept of education in Kierkegaard, but we believe that this is a basic point in the thinking of the Danish philosopher, as we seek to demonstrate, and should be the object of further research, study and reflection. We take as reference for the beginning of this debate texts such as the Philosophical Fragments and the Post-Scriptum, where subjectivity and singularity appear as fundamental concepts.Keywords: Education. Existence. Uniqueness. Subjectivity. Kierkegaard. REFERÊNCIASALMEIDA, J.M A alteridade na construção da ética de Kierkegaard e Lévinas. In:  Revista Controvérsia - Vol. 6, n° 1: 36-45 (jan-mai 2010), São Leopoldo: UNISINOS, 2010.KIERKEGAARD, Søren. Diario: 1847-1848, Vol. 4. 3ª ed. A cura di Cornelio Fabro. Brescia: Morcelliana, 1980. (D 4)._______. Opere. Sansoni Editore. Milano: 1993._______. Postilla Conclusiva no Scientifica alle Briciole di Filosofia. In: Opere. Tradução e organização de Cornélio Fabro. Sansoni Editore: Milano, 1993._______. As obras do amor: algumas considerações cristãs em forma de discurso. Tradução de Álvaro Valls. Petrópolis: Vozes, 2005._______. Três Discursos Edificantes de 1843. Tradução de Henri Nicolay Levinspuhl.  Publicação do Tradutor. Rio de Janeiro:  2000.KIERKEGAARD, Søren. Migalhas filosóficas ou um bocadinho de filosofia de João Climacus. Tradução de Álvaro Valls, e Ernani Reichmann. Petrópolis: Vozes, 2001._______. O conceito de Ironia: constantemente referido à Sócrates. Tradução de Álvaro Valls, e Ernani Reichmann. Vozes: Rio de Janeiro, 1997._______. Johannes Climacus ou É preciso duvidar de tudo. Tradução Silvia Saviano Sampaio e Álvaro Valls. Martins Fontes: São Paulo, 2003._______. Diário Íntimo. Tradução de Maria Angélica Bosco. Santiago Rueda: Buenos Aires, 1989MARTINS, J.S.; VALLS, A. L. M. (orgs.). Kierkegaard no nosso tempo. Nova Harmonia: São Leopoldo: 2010. 

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