Beyond existentialist caricatures: New views of Kierkegaard

Abstract

In the past decade or so a series of excellent Kierkegaard studies has appeared in America. Notable among these are Bradley Dewey's (1968) and Paul Sponheim's (1968) theological studies, Stephen Crites" (1971) HegelKierkegaard work, Louis Mackey's (1971) essays on Kierkegaard's literary craft, Adi Shmu~li's (1971) phenomenological investigation, Josiah Thompson's (1967, 1973) bold interpretations of Kierkegaard's sickness and the authorship as therapy, and John Elrod's (1975) and Mark Taylor's (1975) examinations of being, existence, time and the self in the pseudonymous works. In addition to these studies, the recently deceased Gregor Malantschuk's (1974) major work has been translated, with translations of other of his perceptive studies in progress. (1976, 1978) It would not be an exaggeration to suggest that the enthusiam for existentialism has long since waned and with its departure, interest in Kierkegaard has slackened, receding into the confines of philosophy and religious studies. Even within those enclaves, Kierkegaard scholarship has become something of an obscure, minority specialization, certainly not a mainstream interest, even though Kierkegaard has become established as a seminal figure in the history of modern theology and philosophy. Similarly, with the exception of a few humanistic pyschologists, Kierkegaard remains largely unknown and unstudied in the social sciences. In part, the existentialist caricature of Kierkegaard, which emerged with the popularity of his writing in the late 1940s and 1950s, has dispelled further interest, although this philosophical and theological stereotyping endures. Robert Coles's recent profile of the influence of Kierkegaard on Walker Percy is an example (1978). Yet I think another factor is perhaps more important with regard to the position of Kierkegaard in modern thought--namely, the enormous gap between our American knowledge of his life and writing and