Thoughts on Soren Kierkegaard

I have always found Soren Kierkegaard to be a curious figure. He is an enigma in a sense, so different than me and yet he shares some of my core beliefs. Perhaps most interesting of all he is a Christian existentialist which in my limited knowledge seems like a paradox. However, that's what always drew me to him, because he seemed like such a complex figure, acknowledging many of the feelings and questions difficult for humanity. He talked about anxiety,  faith, fear and trembling. But he also drew conclusions on these issues thanks to his own faith that helped shine some light on my own life.

In order to get a clearer picture of his ideas, instead of just reading snippets and quotations, I picked up The Essential Kierkegaard. I did not read all the sections, but I did read several pieces including Fear and Trembling which is usually cited as one of his more prominent works as far as I know.

Now Kierkegaard is obviously a very intelligent man who seems to have knowledge in all sorts of areas. That being said, I'm usually only able to comprehend about a third of what he says, and I have a feeling that it does not have to due with the quality of the translation.

His thoughts are just that deep and sometimes hard to me to grasp as they weave back and forth, reiterating points and building up his analysis. It can be pretty dense stuff and so at times it got me wondering why I was even trying to pick anything out of these pages. Rather ironically, it seemed hopeless trying to learn something from a Christian existentialist. It felt too far above me. Dare I say pointless. 

However, Kierkegaard did have some things that really stuck with me. I cannot hope to convey the ideas like he did, but I will try my best to give you the dumbed down version of what he led me to think about.

In talking about faith, Kierkegaard seems to acknowledge that people used to spend a whole lifetime striving and working towards faith. However, he points out that even in his age people are unwilling to stop at faith, because they want to go further. They want to know more, since faith by itself is seen as lowly, uncouth, and uneducated to name a few descriptions. That's what makes it interesting that such a well-thought out figure like Kierkegaard seems to suggest the importance of faith. He cites the example of Abraham as a true picture of a man who had complete faith in God, when in many ways it would not make sense to. He was told to kill his son for goodness sake, and yet ultimately this simple element of faith served him well and the Lord blessed him (Fear and Trembling).

Here's an excerpt from one of his journal entries:

"What I really need is to get clear about what I am to do, not what I must know, except insofar as knowledge must precede every act. What matters is to find my purpose, to see what it really is that God wills that I shall do; the crucial thing is to find a truth that is truth for me, to find the idea for which I am willing to live and die. Of what use would it be to me to discover a so-called objective truth, to work through the philosophical systems so that i could, if asked, make critical judgments about them, could point out the fallacies in each system; of what use would it be to me to be able to develop a theory of the state, getting details from various sources and combining them into a whole, and constructing a world I did not live in but merely held up for other to see; of what use would it be to me to be able to formulate the meaning of Christianity, to be able to explain many specific points--if it had no deeper meaning for me and for my life... I certainly do not deny that I still accept the imperative of knowledge and that through it men may be influenced, but then it must come alive in me, and this is what I now recognize as the most important of all" ~ Journal Entry August 1, 1835.

I really appreciate these words from Kierkegaard, because a lot of what he is saying about truth and even philosophy or knowledge really resonates with me on a very personal level. I am no where near his intellect, but I do still believe knowledge is a good thing. As a Christian it is important to be able to articulate and back up your faith. However, sometimes I get tired of talking philosophy or even theology, because at the end of the day is it really doing anything? Whether it's between Christians or a Christian and a non-Christian, does it accomplish anything? Maybe, but a lot of the times it's the conversations on a more personal, human level that matter and have practical impact on our lives. I really appreciate those types of conversations and those types of interactions.

As someone who has also spent a lot of time on UCSD's campus I see a lot of people who understandably want absolute truth or all the empirical evidence and what have you for Christianity and the Gospel. Those certainly are not bad things for Christians and non-Christians alike to look into, but I think Kiergekaard also seems to suggest that this cannot be our only outlet. As I have said before it's a lot different to know something and then to actually experience it in our lives. Thus, there cannot just be a pure and simple search for the truth behind the Bible. It seems that their must also be a faith aspect and something inside of us that makes us want to "come alive", because we can only get so far on the rational truth. At some point, no matter how much evidence we accrue, we must simply believe.

We also are meant to be imitators of Christ not just observers or admirers like someone looking a painting from a distance away. In a sense we are called to walk in the path He has created already -- walking in his footsteps and reflecting qualities that make us more and more like Christ. Kierkegaard seems to suggest that is the problem with his contemporary teaching and sermons. These were nice observations to be made about Christ and the Bible, but at the end of the day, there was no impact on Christian believers. Sometimes I can see how that can still be a problem to this day (Practice in Christianity). 

Here are the pieces I attempted to Read: Fear and Trembling, Christian Discourse, Practice in Christianity, Concept of Anxiety, and some of his journal entries. 

Some other reading: Kierkegaard and More Kierkegaard

I would encourage you to at least look into the works of Kierkegaard, because if I can attempt to get something out of his work, I'm sure others could too.

All the glory be His.