I was interested in your comments about Christian existentialism. Didn’t Kierkegaard possess sort of a melancholy personality, full of “ angst and absurdity?” The father of Christian existentialism? I’ve not read much about Kierkegaard, you’re the expert. Did he have problems with organized religion in matters of faith? Dianne and I are members of a small Episcopal church, but consider ourselves more Anglican than Episcopalian. TEC is too progressive and is declining rapidly. It’s interesting that you were drawn into Catholicism. It seems to be one of the few that have held on to orthodoxy.
Hmmm…well, it’s hard to say that Kierkegaard was “Mr. Positivity” (haha), but I don’t think his authorship can be defined by “angst and absurdity.” There are many layers. As for Catholicism: there is indeed an official “orthodoxy,” but as to whether or not it has “held on” (or should hold on) to that orthodoxy — that’s an oft-debated question! A figure such as de Lubac personifies this tension. For some, he’s a modernist; for others, a traditionalist!
I should have known better than to comment to a Kierkegaard scholar. I’m well-schooled. 😁And by a former student no less. As an Episcopalian (not cradle), it seems that orthodoxy is becoming increasingly absent in TEC.
Nah — not well schooled. Angst and absurdity is part of the Kierkegaardian authorship for sure, but I do try to encourage people to read, say, THE UPBUILDING DISCOURSES to get a more complete picture!
De Lubac has been on my reading list for a while now so enjoyed listening to this. Is it fair to assume that he’d agree that a significant part of the spiritual battle is between two competing accounts of freedom: namely the classical account and the liberal? Good podcast guys!
Many thanks Tim! Great to hear from you. I think it’s a fair assumption, no doubt, though I don’t think he uses that terminology as such in THE DRAMA OF ATHEIST HUMANISM.
Cheers - yeah definitely going to read it; love all these ideas about the transcendental ends of human being set against alternative narratives of our nature and destiny. I’m not familiar with Kierkegaard at all but isn’t there a bit of a tension between his infinite qualitative difference between humanity and god and this idea that our human being is always already divine in some metaphysical sense (on its way to being divinised)? Would he go in for that idea of divinisation and the metaphysical picture of the god/world relationship it requires?
Actually Kierkegaard owes a great deal to the mystical tradition. Shameless plug: see my book THE SPIRITUALITY OF SØREN KIERKEGAARD. I also edited and translated a volume of SK’s spiritual writings. I’ll post some links below!
I was interested in your comments about Christian existentialism. Didn’t Kierkegaard possess sort of a melancholy personality, full of “ angst and absurdity?” The father of Christian existentialism? I’ve not read much about Kierkegaard, you’re the expert. Did he have problems with organized religion in matters of faith? Dianne and I are members of a small Episcopal church, but consider ourselves more Anglican than Episcopalian. TEC is too progressive and is declining rapidly. It’s interesting that you were drawn into Catholicism. It seems to be one of the few that have held on to orthodoxy.
Hmmm…well, it’s hard to say that Kierkegaard was “Mr. Positivity” (haha), but I don’t think his authorship can be defined by “angst and absurdity.” There are many layers. As for Catholicism: there is indeed an official “orthodoxy,” but as to whether or not it has “held on” (or should hold on) to that orthodoxy — that’s an oft-debated question! A figure such as de Lubac personifies this tension. For some, he’s a modernist; for others, a traditionalist!
I should have known better than to comment to a Kierkegaard scholar. I’m well-schooled. 😁And by a former student no less. As an Episcopalian (not cradle), it seems that orthodoxy is becoming increasingly absent in TEC.
Nah — not well schooled. Angst and absurdity is part of the Kierkegaardian authorship for sure, but I do try to encourage people to read, say, THE UPBUILDING DISCOURSES to get a more complete picture!
Will do. I’m enjoying all of your podcasts. I hope you’re getting a lot of listeners and comments.
De Lubac has been on my reading list for a while now so enjoyed listening to this. Is it fair to assume that he’d agree that a significant part of the spiritual battle is between two competing accounts of freedom: namely the classical account and the liberal? Good podcast guys!
Many thanks Tim! Great to hear from you. I think it’s a fair assumption, no doubt, though I don’t think he uses that terminology as such in THE DRAMA OF ATHEIST HUMANISM.
Cheers - yeah definitely going to read it; love all these ideas about the transcendental ends of human being set against alternative narratives of our nature and destiny. I’m not familiar with Kierkegaard at all but isn’t there a bit of a tension between his infinite qualitative difference between humanity and god and this idea that our human being is always already divine in some metaphysical sense (on its way to being divinised)? Would he go in for that idea of divinisation and the metaphysical picture of the god/world relationship it requires?
Actually Kierkegaard owes a great deal to the mystical tradition. Shameless plug: see my book THE SPIRITUALITY OF SØREN KIERKEGAARD. I also edited and translated a volume of SK’s spiritual writings. I’ll post some links below!
From Despair to Faith: The Spirituality of Sren Kierkegaard https://a.co/d/f3gQW4Q
Søren Kierkegaard: Discourses and Writings on Spirituality (Classics of Western Spirituality) https://a.co/d/6mJpGnF
Awesome - cheers man. I’ll devour that.
🍻