Augustine and Kierkegaard

(Hardback)

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This volume is a continuation of our series exploring Saint Augustines influence on later thought, this time bringing the fifth century bishop into dialogue with 19th century philosopher, theologian, social critic, and originator of Existentialism, Soren Kierkegaard. The connections, contrasts, and sometimes surprising similarities of their thought are uncovered and analyzed in topics such as exile and pilgrimage, time and restlessness, inwardness and the church, as well as suffering, evil, and humility. The implications of this analysis are profound and far-reaching for theology, ecclesiology, and ethics.

Reviews

This book is a collection of fifteen clearly written and penetrating essays on the relation between Augustine and Kierkegaard. Written by both philosophers and theologians, the authors include many well-known scholars as well as some fresh and creative younger voices. Anyone interested in Kierkegaard or Augustine will learn much from this volume, which is a first-rate contribution to our understanding of both thinkers. -- C. Stephen Evans, Baylor University
Kierkegaard's reading of Augustine, like Nietzsche's reading of Kierkegaard, is one of the great 'what ifs' of intellectual interest. Kierkegaard, it has been shown, had little direct knowledge of Church Father's major writings, leaving a wonderful tangle of potential points of contact between the two great Christian thinkers hanging in the air. This many-sided collection starts to unpick and to sort some of these connections, exploring a wide range of topics about which the African and the Dane could have had much to say to each other, including faith, time, temptation, evil, freedom, beauty, love, humility, martyrdom, and the divine image. These are themes that richly resonate with creatures such as we aremetaphysically homeless and longing, questioningly, for our one eternal home. On all these topics, Augustine and Kierkegaard still have much to say, as this collection fully shows. -- George Pattison, University of Glasgow
Over the last few decades, Kierkegaard scholarship has devoted increasing attention to those who had an influence on the Danes authorship. Felicitously, this trend has led to a reconsideration of the ways in which Kierkegaard both draws on and departs from the thought of Augustine of Hippo. The present book not only contributes to this reconsideration but does so in creative fashion, demonstrating that the connection between Augustine and Kierkegaard can hardly be reduced to, say, a handful of debates regarding Christian doctrine. Rather, these two great minds, particularly when placed in conversation, continue to stimulate our thinking on topics as diverse as time, beauty, and community. -- Christopher B. Barnett

Author Bio

Kim Paffenroth is professor of religious studies and the director of the Honors Program at Iona College. John Doody is professor of philosophy and Robert M. Birmingham Chair in humanities at Villanova University. Helene Tallon Russell is associate professor of theology at Christian Theological Seminary.