If we can make sense of faith, is it really faith at all, or just a projection of what we want? Are all Christians living by blind faith? Soren Kierkegaard, one of the most celebrated philosophers of the 19th century, asked the same question. With the help of two experts, we’ll untangle his “answers” and discover how to take a leap of faith.
Meet our guests
Dr Amber Bowen is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Core Studies at Redeemer University, Canada. She’s currently a visiting scholar at the Kierkegaard Research Centre at the University of Copenhagen, where she’s also writing a book on Kierkegaard. If the idea of an episode on an existentialist philosopher doesn’t sound like your kind of thing, Amber is here to change that
Professor Niels Jørgen Cappelørn is a Danish theologian, former director of the Søren Kierkegaard Research Center at the University of Copenhagen, and considered one of the foremost experts on Kierkegaard on the planet. He currently resides in Copenhagen, living mere blocks aways from Kierkegaard’s former church.
Links
Soren Kierkegaard argued that faith sits above reason, outside the human standards of rationality. Faith is not reducible to rational deduction.
It made us wonder: Would Soren Kierkegaard disapprove of the whole Undeceptions project? Our team spends days (and often nights) thinking and arguing about the beautiful coherence of Christianity.
Is that misguided? Will our investigation of Soren Kierkegaard put an end to our humble podcast?
Special thanks to our season sponsor Zondervan Academic. Get discounts on MasterLectures video courses and exclusive samples of their books at zondervanacademic.com/undeceptions
Check out these helpful links below for more info on what was discussed in this episode.
To Read
- The Guardian ran a fantastic series on “Kierkegaard’s World” in 2010 – check out this breakdown of Kierkegaard’s understanding of the Abraham and Isaac story.
- Christianity Today has this great breakdown of Kierkegaard’s work, as it relates to his Christian faith.
- With such an enormous output, there are more than a few life lessons in Kierkegaard’s work. Here’s a summary of a few.
To Watch
- Here’s a great video breaking down Kierkegaard’s three stages of human existence.
- Here’s Richard Dawkins and John Lennox thrashing out the question; is blind faith bad?
- The School of Life YouTube channel has done this helpful video breaking down the ideas of Kierkegaard.
- BBC also have this documentary on Kierkegaard (warning – serious 80s TV alert!)
To Listen
- Here’s our guest Amber talking about Kierkegaard’s Fear and Trembling on the Philosophy in the Spotlight YouTube channel.
- Philosophize This is a great podcast, and their episode on Kierkegaard and anxiety is well worth a listen.
- They’ve actually done two episodes on Kierkegaard – here’s their understanding of his ideas around joy.
And finally …
- Check out our old episode Jesus Philosopher, where we speak to two philosophers about their faith and work.
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