DESCRIPTION:

Along with Feuerbach, Marx, Schopenhauer, and Nietzsche, Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) is one of the major figures in anti- and/or post-Hegelian European philosophy in the nineteenth century. Although deeply rooted in the modern tradition--Descartes' quest for certainty as well as Luther's search for a gracious God--Kierkegaard's Christian humanism and his theory and practice of a socratic mode of communicating it are open for discovery--especially with regard to its methodological implications for systematic theology and philosophy of religion. Here lies the basic task of the seminar, which will combine a detailed reading of his major (pseudonymous) writings with introductory and contextual side-glances: on Kierkegaard's biography, his intellectual background, and some of the crucial issues in nineteenth-century philosophy and theology.

The course is indirectly relevant for church ministry in that Kierkegaard has had a profound role in shaping modern Protestant theology. It is provided for those who seek a deeper understanding of one of the major figures in Western thought and his impact on the shaping of twentieth-century theology.

Class time will be devoted to both lectures and critical discussions of Kierkegaard's central texts. There will be daily reading assignments. Class will meet twice weekly for four-hour sessions for five weeks.

Kierkegaard, Søren. Either-Or I/II. Penguin Classics.

__________. Fear and Trembling. Penguin Classics.

__________. The Concept of Anxiety. Princeton University Press, 1980.

__________. Philosophical Fragments. Princeton University Press, 1985.

__________. Sickness unto Death. Penguin Classics.

Gardiner, Patrick. Kierkegaard. Princeton University Press, 1988.

Gouwens, David J. Kierkegaard as a Religious Thinker. Cambridge University Press, 1996.

Hannay, Alastair. Kierkegaard. 2nd ed. Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1994.

Lodge, David. Therapy. A Novel. 1995.

Malantschuk, Gregor. Kierkegaard's Thought. Princeton University Press, 1971.

Regular attendance and preparation for class discussion. Five shorter papers (about 5 pages each) are to be submitted in due course, intended as a paraphrase and critical assessment of basic Kierkegaardian texts and ideas.

None.

Elective.

None.