Kierkegaard and the Self before God: Anatomy of the Abyss (Indiana Series in the Philosophy of Religion) - Softcover

Podmore, Simon D.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0253222826 ISBN 13: 9780253222824

Publisher: Indiana University Press, 2011

Synopsis

Simon D. Podmore claims that becoming a self before God is both a divine gift and an anxious obligation. Before we can know God, or ourselves, we must come to a moment of recognition. How this comes to be, as well as the terms of such acknowledgment, are worked out in Podmore’s powerful new reading of Kierkegaard. As he gives full consideration to Kierkegaard's writings, Podmore explores themes such as despair, anxiety, melancholy, and spiritual trial, and how they are broken by the triumph of faith, forgiveness, and the love of God. He confronts the abyss between the self and the divine in order to understand how we can come to know ourselves in relation to a God who is apparently so wholly Other.

About this title

Review:

For anyone who loves Kierkegaard, or who is puzzled and wants elucidation, this is a wonderfully intelligent, supple account of the philosopher's thought. Source: The New Yorker

Podmore ... impressively draw[s] upon Continental philosophers ... as resources for contemporary theology and Kierkegaardian scholarship. Source: Intnl Journal for Philosophy of Religion

This book will be a valuable addition to libraries that support Kierkegaard studies or the philosophy of religion. . . . Highly recommended. Source: Choice

From the Author:

Simon D. Podmore is Gordon Milburn Junior Research Fellow at Trinity College and British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow in the Faculty of Theology, University of Oxford. He has published in Literature and Theology, Journal of Psychology & Theology, and International Kierkegaard Commentary. He is also the Secretary of the Søren Kierkegaard Society of the United Kingdom.

About this edition

• Publisher: Indiana University Press
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0253222826
• ISBN 13: 9780253222824
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 280