Søren
Aabye Kierkegaard (b.1813, d. 1855) was a profound and prolific
writer in the Danish "golden age" of intellectual and
artistic activity.
His work crosses the boundaries of philosophy, theology,
psychology,
literary criticism, devotional literature and fiction.
Kierkegaard
brought this potent mixture of discourses to bear as social
critique and
for the purpose of renewing Christian faith within
Christendom. At the
same time he made many original conceptual contributions to each
of the disciplines he employed.
He is known as
the "father of existentialism," but at least as
important are his critiques of Hegel and of the German romantics,
his contributions to the development of modernism, his literary
experimentation, his vivid re-presentation of biblical figures to
bring out their modern relevance, his invention of key concepts
which have been explored and redeployed by thinkers ever since,
his interventions in contemporary Danish church politics, and his
fervent attempts to analyze and revitalize Christian faith.
Kierkegaard burned with the passion of a religious poet, was armed
with extraordinary dialectical talent, and drew on vast resources
of erudition.
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