The Soul of Kierkegaard: Selections from His Journals

About this book

"The primary source for any understanding of either the man or his thought." The Times (London) Literary Supplement Denmarks foremost philosopher and religious writer Sren Kierkegaard (18131855) maintained a journal throughout his adult life that amounted to more than 7 000 pages of alternative drafts of published works biographical events musings and outpourings. A precursor of the Existential movement and a major influence on modern Protestant theology Kierkegaard confided to his journal further reflections on the ideas developed in his philosophical and theological works and on his tumultuous career as an author. The English periodical The Tablet declared that "there can be few books in English that admit the reader so intimately to a process of thinking on such a scale at so many levels so unflinching and direct." Indeed the journals attest to the philosophers lively imagination his poetic powers of self-expression and the brilliance of his intellect. Students of philosophy and literature are bound to agree with The New Statesmans assessment that "No biography can take the place of these Journals for the understanding of Kierkegaards very peculiar position as a thinker."