Kierkegaard's Theology of Encounter: An Edifying and Polemical Life
David Lappano
Abstract
This book provides a theoretical framework that brings the unity of Kierkegaard’s ‘middle period’ into relief. It analyses Kierkegaard’s writings between 1846 and 1852 when, it is argued, the socially constructive dimension of his thought comes to prominence, involving two dialectical aspects of religiousness identified by Kierkegaard: they are the edifying and the polemical. How these come together and get worked out in the lives of individuals forms the basis of what can be called a Kierkegaardian ‘social praxis’. The author argues that the tension between the edifying and the polemical can ... More
This book provides a theoretical framework that brings the unity of Kierkegaard’s ‘middle period’ into relief. It analyses Kierkegaard’s writings between 1846 and 1852 when, it is argued, the socially constructive dimension of his thought comes to prominence, involving two dialectical aspects of religiousness identified by Kierkegaard: they are the edifying and the polemical. How these come together and get worked out in the lives of individuals forms the basis of what can be called a Kierkegaardian ‘social praxis’. The author argues that the tension between the edifying and the polemical can be coherently maintained in a communicative life that is also characteristic of a militant faith. This militant faith and life is presented as a critical guard against absolutisms, fundamentalisms, and intellectual aloofness; but the ‘militant’ individual is also utterly dependent, in need of edification and critique, and therefore chooses the risk of encountering others, seeking relationships out of a commitment to the development of people and communities in co-operation. Therefore, not only does this dialectic provide readers with an important theoretical framework for understanding Kierkegaard’s ‘middle period’, but it is also a valuable resource for a constructive analysis of active social living suitable for theology in the twenty-first century.
Keywords:
Kierkegaard,
religiousness,
philosophy,
theology
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2017 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780198792437 |
| Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: February 2017 |
DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198792437.001.0001 |
