Spiritual Writings

In this new collection, Oxford theologian George Pattison translates and selects SØren Kierkegaard's previously neglected writings on spirituality-works that greatly deepen our understanding of the influential thinker. In philosophy and literature, Kierkegaard (By far the most profound thinker of the nineteenth century”-Ludwig Wittgenstein) is generally perceived as epitomizing existential angst. However, there is much more to Kierkegaard than the popular image of the melancholy Dane” or the iconoclastic critic of established Christendom. Alongside the pseudonymous books for which he is largely known, Kierkegaard also wrote many devotional works, which he called upbuilding” or edifying” discourses. Taken as a whole, these writings offer something very different from the popular view-they embody a spirituality grounded in a firm sense of human life as a divine gift.

Sren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) was born in Copenhagen, DenmarK. His many works include The Present Age and Works of Love, both available from Harper Perennial Modern Thought. George Pattison is Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity at the University of Oxford and a canon of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford.