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Kierkegaard and Luther

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Publisher:
 2020

Summary

Søren Kierkegaard denounced nineteenth-century Danish Lutheranism for exploiting Martin Luther's doctrine of justification "without works" as justification for an antinomian easy life. Kierkegaard saw his own writing as a corrective: “I have wanted to prevent people in ‘Christendom’ from existentially taking in vain Luther and the significance of Luther's life.” In 1847, Kierkegaard began an eight-year reading of Luther’s sermons, forking through them for extracts to confirm his theological corrective rather than to comprehend the breadth of Luther’s thought. While he found much to laud, Kierkegaard also found much to lance, privately commenting that Luther was partially responsible for what he considered the problematic Lutheranism of his own day. Furthermore, David Coe argues, Kierkegaard was unaware that his copy of Luther's church and house postils was a heavily abridged edition of extracts from those postils. Therefore, his appraisal of Luther begs to be investigated. Kierkegaard and Luther examines the Luther sermons Kierkegaard read, what he praised and criticized, missed, and misjudged of Luther, and spotlights the concord these two Lutheran giants actually shared, namely, the negative yet necessary role that Christian suffering (Anfechtung/Anfægtelse) plays in Christian faith and life.

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Bibliographic data

Edition
1/2020
Copyright year
2020
ISBN-Print
978-1-9787-1083-2
ISBN-Online
978-1-9787-1084-9
Publisher
Lexington, Lanham
Language
English
Pages
258
Product type
Book Titles

Table of contents

ChapterPages
    1. Contents No access
    2. Abbreviations No access
    3. Acknowledgments No access
  1. Introduction No access Pages 1 - 26
  2. Chapter 1 Presumptuous and Pious Historical-Theological Backdrops No access Pages 27 - 52
  3. Chapter 2 Kierkegaard’s Forkful Reading of an Abridged Edition of Luther’s Church and House Postils No access Pages 53 - 78
  4. Chapter 3 Lauding Luther in Kierkegaard’s Private Discourse No access Pages 79 - 122
  5. Chapter 4 Lancing Luther in Kierkegaard’s Private Discourse No access Pages 123 - 174
  6. Chapter 5 Lauding Luther in Kierkegaard’s Public Discourse No access Pages 175 - 194
  7. Chapter 6 Anfechtung/Anfægtelse No access Pages 195 - 238
  8. Bibliography No access Pages 239 - 250
  9. Index No access Pages 251 - 256
  10. About the Author No access Pages 257 - 258