KIERKEGAARD AND THE THEOLOGY OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

Transcription

1 KIERKEGAARD AND THE THEOLOGY OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY This study shows how Kierkegaard s mature theological writings reflect his engagement with the wide range of theological positions which he encountered as a student, including German and Danish Romanticism, Hegelianism, and the writings of Fichte and Schleiermacher. draws on both major and lesser-known works to show the complexity and nuances of Kierkegaard s theological position, which remained closer to Schleiermacher s affirmation of religion as a feeling of absolute dependence than to the Barthian denial of any point of contact, with which he is often associated. Pattison also explores ways in which Kierkegaard s theological thought can be related to thinkers such as Heidegger and John Henry Newman, and its continuing relevance to present-day debates about secular faith. His volume will be of great interest to scholars and students of philosophy and theology. george pattison is Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity at the University of Oxford, and Canon of Christ Church Cathedral. Some of his publications include God and Being: An Enquiry (2011), Crucifixions and Resurrections of the Image (2009), and Kierkegaard, Religion and the Nineteenth-Century Crisis of Culture (Cambridge, 2002). He is editor and translator of Kierkegaard s Spiritual Writings (2010).

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3 KIERKEGAARD AND THE THEOLOGY OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY The Paradox GEORGE PATTISON

4 cambridge university press Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo, Delhi, Mexico City Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge cb2 8ru, UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York Information on this title: / # 2012 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2012 Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication data Pattison, George, 1950 Kierkegaard and the theology of the nineteenth century : the paradox and the point of contact /. p. cm. isbn (Hardback) 1. Kierkegaard, Søren, Theology History 19th century. I. Title. b4377.p dc isbn Hardback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

5 Contents Acknowledgements References to Kierkegaard s works Abbreviations of Kierkegaard titles page vi vii ix Introduction: Kierkegaard as student and writer of theology 1 1 Beginning with the beginning of modern theology 5 2 Speculative theology 30 3 David Friedrich Strauss 57 4 Immanence and transcendence 80 5 Out there with the lilies and the birds Sin Redemption Proclaiming the Word Christianity after the Church Kierkegaard s hands 214 Bibliography 229 Index 236 v

6 Acknowledgements Although this book is, as a whole, a new and original work, parts of it have previously been published elsewhere and I am grateful for permission to reproduce those parts here. Chapter 2 is a revised and expanded version of Kierkegaard and Speculative Theology, first published in J. Garff, E. Rocca, and P. Søltoft, At vaere sig selv naervaerende (Copenhagen: Kristeligt Dagblads Forlag, 2010), pp ; Chapter 3 is a revised version of D. F. Strauss: Kierkegaard and Radical Demythologization, in J. Stewart, Kierkegaard Research: Sources, Receptions and Resources, Volume 6, Tome II, Kierkegaard and his German Contemporaries: Theology (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2007), pp ; Chapter 4 incorporates part of the chapter Dogma and Faith: The Testimony of an Upbuilding Discourse, in E. Mooney (ed.), Ethics, Love, and Faith in Kierkegaard: Philosophical Engagements (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2008); Chapter 8 incorporates a revised version of the article The Art of Upbuilding, in R. Perkins (ed.), International Kierkegaard Commentary: Eighteen Upbuilding Discourses (Macon: Mercer University Press, 2003), pp ; Chapter 9 is an expanded version of the article Kirkestormen, Neo-Gnosticism and Secular Christianity, in Dansk teologisk tidskrift, Vol. 73, Issue 4, 2010, pp ; and Chapter 10 is a revised version of the chapter Kierkegaard s Hands, in R. Perkins (ed.), International Kierkegaard Commentary: The Point of View (Macon: Mercer University Press, 2010), pp Other work presented here has been tried out in a variety of seminars, lectures, and other similar forums, chiefly at the universities of Aarhus, Copenhagen, and Oxford, and I am grateful to all who made it possible for me to develop my reading of Kierkegaard in this way. Perhaps the core of the book developed from work on translating Kierkegaard s Journals and Notebooks and I am especially grateful for having been included in that exciting and important project. Other thanks to teachers, colleagues, students, friends, and family are too innumerable to list, but are none the less heartfelt for being anonymous. vi

7 References to Kierkegaard s works References to Kierkegaard s published works are to the latest Danish edition of his works, Søren Kierkegaards Skrifter, ed. Niels-Jørgen Cappelørn et al. (Copenhagen: Gad, 1997 ), abbreviated to SKS and followed by the volume number, and to the translations in the series Kierkegaard s Writings, ed. Howard V. and Edna H. Hong (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1978), referred to by a title-based acronym. Thus (SKS11: 157/SUD, 42) refers to The Sickness unto Death (E. tr.), p. 42¼SKS, volume 11, p.157. A full list of the acronyms used is given below. Apart from Chapter 10, however, I have mostly used my own translations from the Danish text, in the case of many of the discourses using the translations prepared for my anthology Kierkegaard s Spiritual Writings (New York: HarperCollins, 2010). References to Kierkegaard s unpublished journals, notebooks, and other works are also to Søren Kierkegaards Skrifter. In this case, however, references to the English translation are to Kierkegaard s Journals and Notebooks, ed. Niels-Jørgen Cappelørn et al. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2007 ), abbreviated to KJN. These are then followed by the entry numbers used by Kierkegaard himself and adopted by both SKS and KJN, rather than page numbers (only very few entries are more than one or two pages long). As only the first six volumes of KJN have appeared at the time of this book going to press, references may also be given to the selection of Søren Kierkegaard s Journals and Papers, ed. and trans. Howard V. Hong and Edna H. Hong (Bloomington and London: Indiana University Press, ), abbreviated to JP. Following wellestablished custom, these latter references are given by volume number and entry (rather than page) number. Where authors have cited this translation, references may be given in addition to the SKS/KJN references. Thus SKS18/KJN2: EE:62 [JP 2: 1319] refers to SKS, volume 18 and KJN, volume 2, entry number EE:62, equivalent to JP, volume 2, entry vii

8 viii References to Kierkegaard s works number The abbreviation SKSK refers to the Kommentar or Commentary volumes accompanying each volume of SKS. As not all of the relevant volumes of SKS have been published at the time of going to press, a few entries are given to the older Danish edition, Papirer, ed. P. A. Heiberg, V. Kuhr, and R. Torsting (Copenhagen: Gyldendal, ), abbreviated to Pap.

9 Abbreviations of Kierkegaard titles All works are translated by Howard V. Hong and Edna H. Hong unless otherwise indicated and all are published by Princeton University Press. CA The Concept of Anxiety, trans. Reidar Thomte in collaboration with Albert B. Anderson (1980). CD Christian Discourses and The Crisis and a Crisis in the Life of an Actress (1997). CI The Concept of Irony together with Notes on Schelling s Berlin Lectures (1989). CUP1 and CUP2 Concluding Unscientific Postscript to Philosophical Fragments (two volumes, 1992). EO1 and EO2 Either/Or (2 volumes, 1987). EUD Eighteen Upbuilding Discourses (1990). FSE/JFY For Self-Examination [and] Judge for Yourself! (1990). FT/R Fear and Trembling and Repetition (1983). LD Letters and Documents, trans. Hendrik Rosenmeier (1978). P Prefaces and Writing Sampler, trans. Todd W. Nichol (1998). PC Practice in Christianity (1991). PF PV Philosophical Fragments and Johannes Climacus (1985). The Point of View for My Work as an Author, The Single Individual, On My Work as an Author, and Armed Neutrality (1998). R Repetition. See Fear and Trembling SLW Stages on Life s Way (1988). SUD The Sickness unto Death (1980). TA Two Ages: the Age of Revolution and the Present Age. A Literary Review (1978). ix

10 x Abbreviations of Kierkegaard titles TDIO Three Discourses on Imagined Occasions (1993). M The Moment and Late Writings (1998). UDVS Upbuilding Discourses in Various Spirits (1993). WA Without Authority (1997). WL Works of Love (1995).