Kierkegaard and Spirituality: Accountability as the Meaning of Human Existence (Kierkegaard as a Christian Thinker)

by C. Stephen Evans

Publisher:

Eerdmans

, 2019

Overview

We live spiritually when we live in the presence of God.

The Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard is often read for his contributions to Christian theology, but he also has much to offer about spirituality—both Christian and more generally human.

C. Stephen Evans assesses Kierkegaard’s belief that true spirituality should be seen as accountability: the grateful recognition of our existence as gift. Spirituality takes on a Christian flavor when one recognizes in Jesus Christ the human incarnation of the God who gives us being. In this clearly written and substantive book a leading scholar on Kierkegaard’s thought makes Kierkegaard’s contributions to spirituality accessible not only to philosophers and theologians but to pastors, spiritual directors, and lay Christians.

The Kierkegaard and Christian Thought series, coedited by C. Stephen Evans and Paul Martens, aims to promote an enriched understanding of nineteenth-century philosopher-theologian Søren Kierkegaard in relation to other key figures in theology and key theological concepts.

Key Features

• Provides an understanding of Kierkegaard as a spiritual writer
• Focuses on Kierkegaard’s deep Christian faith as the center of his work
• Explores a generic human spirituality and a spirituality that is distinctively Christian

Contents

• Kierkegaard’s Account of Human Beings as “Spirit”
• Spiritlessness and Demonic Spirituality
• Natural Knowledge of God
• Socratic Spirituality (1): Religiousness A and Upbuilding Spirituality
• Socratic Spirituality (2): The Spirituality of Kierkegaard’s Upbuilding Discourses
• Christian Spirituality (1): Upbuilding Christian Spirituality
• Christian Spirituality (2): Practice in Christianity
• Christian Spirituality (3): For Self-Examination and Judge for Yourself!
• Conclusions: Spirituality as Accountability

Top Highlights

“For Kierkegaard, therefore, spirituality requires a quality that I call ‘accountability,’ the virtue that is present when a person is grateful for the task God assigns, and understands that being accountable to God is a gift. The task is grounded in the debt we owe to God. However, the nature of the debt, and the nature of the task, is profoundly altered when God is known through Christ, God incarnate in human form, a God known not through philosophical reflection but in history.” (Pages vii–viii)

Product Details

• Title: Kierkegaard and Spirituality: Accountability as the Meaning of Human Existence
• Authors: C. Stephen Evans
• Series: Kierkegaard as a Christian Thinker
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Publication Date: 2019
• Pages: 224
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Topic: Spirituality

About C. Stephen Evans

C. Stephen Evans is University Professor of Philosophy and Humanities at Baylor University. He is also a Professorial Fellow at the Institute for Religion and Critical Inquiry at Australian Catholic University and is a widely travelled speaker. Evans is the author or editor of more than two dozen books, including the Pocket Dictionary of Apologetics and Philosophy of Religion, Faith Beyond Reason: A Kierkegaardian Account, Why Believe? Reason and Mystery as Pointers to God, and God and Moral Obligation.

 

Sample Pages from Kierkegaard and Spirituality: Accountability as the Meaning of Human Existence (Kierkegaard as a Christian Thinker)