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Kierkegaard and the Theology of the Nineteenth Century

The Paradox and the ‘Point of Contact’

George Pattison author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Cambridge University Press

Published:30th Jul '15

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Kierkegaard and the Theology of the Nineteenth Century cover

This book situates Kierkegaard in the nineteenth-century debates which influenced him and discusses his relevance to contemporary Christian theology.

This book shows Kierkegaard's relation to nineteenth-century theology and philosophy of religion, including to Schleiermacher, Hegel and Hegelianism, debates about the Christian communication and the Church, as well as to twentieth-century debates about secular faith. It draws on his early journals as well as his purely religious writings.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. George Pattison 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.

'Pattison's very interesting book contributes substantially to existing scholarship by presenting Kierkegaard's theological position as both coherent and unique. For those who prefer to neglect or undermine the theological commitments of Kierkegaard's thought, his book poses a real challenge. And on the other hand, for those who are concerned that regarding Kierkegaard as a theologian may come at the expense of appreciating him as a philosopher, it elegantly demonstrates that there is no place for such a concern. His book should be of great interest to students and scholars in both philosophy and theology.' Sharon Krishek, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
'One for the specialist …' The Times Literary Supplement
'Relatively compact but thoroughly comprehensive … Pattison's book is an extremely rich resource for further development … a book that lays out a mountain of evidence that, probably, buries the old 'existentialist' reading for good.' Jason Goltz, The Bibliographia
'George Pattison's detailed and illuminating work provides an important and welcome service to the field. … This expansive exposition of Kierkegaard and his context warrants an esteemed place as one of the first ports of call for any theological engagement with a great thinker whose time, even yet, has perhaps not fully arrived.' Simon D. Podmore, The Expository Times

ISBN: 9781107540781

Dimensions: 229mm x 152mm x 13mm

Weight: 450g

252 pages