Spiritual Writings

Rediscovered spiritual writings from “the most profound thinker of the 19th century” (Ludwig Wittgenstein).

“The ‘Kierkegaard’ known to history is, in an important sense, not Kierkegaard at all. His true point of view is found in his religious writings.” —George Pattison, from the Foreword

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.

“Here is the great Danish master of irony and subversion speaking with an earnestness and plainness that is all the more powerful for being unfamiliar. . . . George Pattison offers us a deeply valuable introduction to a great philosopher’s hidden simplicities.” —Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury

“Fascinating and perplexing in equal measure, these exegeses on gospel and biblical sayings display a side of the great 19th-century philosopher Kierkegaard . . .that is considerably less familiar to modern readers than his status as a protoexistentialist. . . . Kierkegaard's lyricism, insight, and passionate insistence on the enduring value of scripture are frequently a wonder to behold.” —Publishers Weekly