KIERKEGAARD’S CONCEPT OF FAITH
Merold Westphal
William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
Grand Rapids, Michigan / Cambridge, U.K.
All rights reserved
Published 2014 by
Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
2140 Oak Industrial Drive N.E., Grand Rapids, Michigan 49505 /
P.O. Box 163, Cambridge CB3 9PU U.K.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Westphal, Merold.
Kierkegaard’s concept of faith / Merold Westphal.
pages cm.—(Kierkegaard as a Christian thinker)
ISBN 978-0-8028-6806-0 (pbk.: alk. paper)
1. Kierkegaard, Søren, 1813–1855. 2. Faith. I. Title.
BX4827.K5W47 2014
234′.23—dc23
2014008817
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., and used by permission.
kierkegaard as a christian thinker
C. Stephen Evans and Paul Martens
General Editors
The Kierkegaard as a Christian Thinker series seeks to promote and enrich an understanding of Søren Kierkegaard as a Christian thinker who, despite his many critiques of Christendom, self-consciously worked within the Christian tradition and in the service of Christianity. Volumes in the series may approach Kierkegaard’s relationship to Christianity historically or topically, philosophically or theologically. Some will attempt to illuminate Kierkegaard’s thought by examining his works through the lens of Christian faith; others will use Kierkegaard’s Christian insights to address contemporary problems and competing non-Christian perspectives.
That Søren Kierkegaard profoundly influenced nineteenth- and twentieth-century theology and philosophy is not in doubt. The direction, extent, and value of his influence, however, have always been hotly contested. For example, in the early decades of the twentieth century, Swiss theologians Karl Barth and Emil Brunner and German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer all acknowledged deep debts to Kierkegaard, debts that would echo through the theological debates of the entire century. In spite of this, by the middle of the twentieth century, Kierkegaard was also hailed (or cursed) as a father of existentialism and nihilism because of his appropriation by Heidegger, Sartre, and others. At the same time, however, he was beginning to become the reveille for a return to true Christianity in North America through the translating efforts of Walter Lowrie and David Swenson. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, Kierkegaard’s legacy is once again being seriously and rigorously debated.
While acknowledging and affirming the postmodern appreciation of elements of Kierkegaard’s thought (such as irony, indirect communication, and pseudonymity), this series aims to engage Kierkegaard as a Christian thinker who self-consciously worked as a Christian in the service of Christianity. And, as the current discussion crosses the traditional boundaries of philosophy and theology, ...
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About Kierkegaard’s Concept of FaithIn this book renowned philosopher Merold Westphal unpacks the writings of nineteenth-century thinker Soren Kierkegaard on biblical, Christian faith and its relation to reason. Across five books—Fear and Trembling, Philosophical Fragments, Concluding Unscientific Postscript, Sickness Unto Death, and Practice in Christianity—and three pseudonyms, Kierkegaard sought to articulate a biblical concept of faith by approaching it from a variety of perspectives in relation to one another. Westphal offers a careful textual reading of these major discussions to present an overarching analysis of Kierkegaard’s conception of the true meaning of biblical faith. Though Kierkegaard presents a complex picture of faith through his pseudonyms, Westphal argues that his perspective is a faithful and illuminating one, making claims that are important for philosophy of religion, for theology, and most of all for Christian life as it might be lived by faithful people. |
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