A Companion to Kierkegaard Blackwell Companions to Philosophy Series

??Companions? to important thinkers help readers focus on the main drift of their texts with the help of a dig into their origin and some account of their reception. This one digs deeper, and over a wider terrain, than most. But it does more. Besides guiding us to the staples of theology and philosophy in Kierkegaard?s background, it also looks forward to a future, as if Kierkegaard, too, might be taken by the arm and told that here was something that should interest him (about politics, social life, psychology, education, literary theory, deconstruction, theatre). It is as much a sign of the extraordinary richness of Kierkegaard?s literary palette as of the now wide currency of his thought that its elements can become topics in their own right, with Kierkegaard their inspiration. Jon Stewart and his authors are to be congratulated for bringing this unique thinker into our living presence on such a scale and with so many things to talk about.?

Alastair Hannay,Professor Emeritus, University of Oslo

Born in Copenhagen in 1813, Søren Kierkegaard produced a remarkable amount of work during his fairly short life. When he died in 1855 he left behind a complex and interdisciplinary legacy that continues to spark academic debate. Edited by one of the world?s leading Kierkegaard scholars, A Companion to Kierkegaard provides the most comprehensive single-volume overview of Kierkegaard studies currently available. Featuring contributions from an international array of scholars, the collection covers all the major topics within the broad field of Kierkegaard research, including philosophy, theology, aesthetics, art, literary theory, social sciences, and politics. Kierkegaard?s contribution to each of these disciplines is illustrated through examination of the sources he drew upon, the reception of his ideas, and the unique conceptual insights he brought to each topic.

A Companion to Kierkegaard demystifies the complex field of Kierkegaard studies providing the ideal entry-point into his writing for readers at all levels. This collection will be an essential tool for students and scholars from across the disciplines who are interested in learning more about this important and influential thinker.

Notes on Contributors ix

Acknowledgments xiii

Chronology of Kierkegaard's Works xiv

List of Abbreviations xviii

Editor's Introduction: Kierkegaard and the Rich Field of Kierkegaard Studies 1

Part I Philosophy 19

A. Sources 21

1 A Shimmering Socrates: Philosophy and Poetry in Kierkegaard's Platonic Authorship 23
Jacob Howland

2 Kierkegaard's Use of German Philosophy: Leibniz to Fichte 36
Roe Fremstedal

3 Kierkegaard's View of Hegel, His Followers and Critics 50
Jon Stewart

4 Kierkegaard's Relations to Danish Philosophy of the Golden Age 66
Carl Henrik Koch

B. Reception 81

5 Kierkegaard and Existentialism: From Anxiety to Autonomy 83
K. Brian Soderquist

6 Postmodernism and Deconstruction: Paradox, Sacrifice, and the Future of Writing 96
Marius Timmann Mjaaland

C. Concepts and Contributions 111

7 Kierkegaard's Views on Normative Ethics, Moral Agency, and Metaethics 113
Roe Fremstedal

8 Kierkegaard's Skepticism 126
Dario Gonzalez

Part II Theology and Religious Studies 139

A. Sources 141

9 Kierkegaard and Biblical Studies: A Critical Response to Nineteenth-Century Hermeneutics 143
Lee C. Barrett

10 Grace and Rigor in Kierkegaard's Reception of the Church Fathers 155
Jack Mulder, Jr.

11 Kierkegaard's Mystical and Spiritual Sources: Meister Eckhart to Tersteegen 167
Peter Sajda

12 Kierkegaard's Appropriation and Critique of Luther and Lutheranism 180
Lee C. Barrett

13 Shapers of Kierkegaard's Danish Church: Mynster, Grundtvig, Martensen 193
Curtis L. Thompson

B. Reception 207

14 From Barth to Tillich: Kierkegaard and the Dialectical Theologians 209
Heiko Schulz

15 Other Lutheran Theologians Responding Contextually to Kierkegaard 223
Curtis L. Thompson

16 Catholicism: Finding Inspiration and Provocation in Kierkegaard 237
Christopher B. Barnett and Peter Sajda

C. Concepts and Contributions 251

17 Kierkegaard as Existentialist Dogmatician: Kierkegaard on Systematic Theology, Doctrine, and Dogmatics 253
David R. Law

18 Biblical Variations: Kierkegaard's Rewritten "Life of Jesus" 269
Iben Damgaard

19 Rethinking Religion Existentially: New Approaches to Classical Problems of Religious Philosophy in Kierkegaard 281
Istvan Czako

Part III Aesthetics, the Arts, and Literary Theory 295

A. Sources 297

20 Kierkegaard's Use of German Literature 299
Joachim Grage

21 Kierkegaard and the Aesthetics of the Danish Golden Age 311
Nathaniel Kramer

B. Reception 325

22 Literature and (Anti) Humanism 327
Poul Houe

23 Kierkegaard's Influence on Literary Criticism and Theory: Irony, Repetition, Silence 341
J.D. Mininger

C. Concepts and Contributions 353

24 Existence and the Aesthetic Forms 355
Dario Gonzalez

25 Kierkegaard's Theatrical Aesthetic from Repetition to Imitation 367
Timothy Stock

Part IV Social Sciences and Politics 381

A. Sources 383

26 Politics, Society, and Theology in Golden Age Denmark: Key Themes and Figures 385
Stephen Backhouse

27 Reflections on Late Modernity: Kierkegaard in the "Present Age" 399
Daniel Conway

B. Reception 413

28 Between Anthropology, Sociology, and Psychology: The Insider/Outsider Self 415
Simon D. Podmore

29 Kierkegaard's Social-Political Posterity: A Still Unnavigated Maze 435
Leo Stan

C. Concepts and Contributions 451

30 Kierkegaard's Conception of Psychology: How to Understand It and Why It Still Matters 453
Rene Rosfort

31 Kierkegaard and the Limits of Philosophical Anthropology 468
Jamie Turnbull

32 Prolegomena for Thinking of Kierkegaard as a Social and Political Philosopher 480
J. Michael Tilley

33 Making Kierkegaard Relevant to Education Today 490
Timothy Hall

Index 502

Jon Stewart is Associate Professor at the Søren Kierkegaard Research Centre at the University of Copenhagen. He is the editor of the Kierkegaard Research: Sources, Reception and Resources, Texts from Golden Age Denmark, and Danish Golden Age Studies series. He is the co-editor of the Kierkegaard Studies Yearbook and the Kierkegaard Studies Monograph series. Former leader of the Nordic Network of Kierkegaard Research and the International Kierkegaard Network, his published books include, Kierkegaard’s Relations to Hegel Reconsidered (2003), Idealism and Existentialism: Hegel and Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century European Philosophy (2010), The Unity of Hegel’s “Phenomenology of Spirit”: A Systematic Interpretation (2011), The Unity of Content and Form in Philosophical Writing: The Perils of Conformity (2013), and The Cultural Crisis of the Danish Golden Age: Heiberg, Martensen and Kierkegaard (2015).