Taking the “single individual” back to church: the possibility of a Kierkegaardian ecclesiology
Those who know comparatively little about Søren Kierkegaard usually know at least one thing: he is perhaps the least likely theological voice to catalyse a positive discussion about the Church. Kierkegaard's thunderously emphatic ‘attacks’ upon Danish Lutheranism, culminating in his own dramati...
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| Format: | Electronic/Print Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
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| Published: |
Princeton Theology Seminary
[2016]
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| In: |
Theology today
Year: 2016, Volume: 72, Issue: 4, Pages: 431-446 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | Those who know comparatively little about Søren Kierkegaard usually know at least one thing: he is perhaps the least likely theological voice to catalyse a positive discussion about the Church. Kierkegaard's thunderously emphatic ‘attacks’ upon Danish Lutheranism, culminating in his own dramatic self-excommunication, are often defended on account of the laissez-faire Christianity he attempted to challenge, believing its communitarian indolence had quenched the possibility of the `single individual' standing alone before God. His radically anti-congregational focus appears to so denigrate ecclesial consciousness that one wonders if Kierkegaard truly loved the Church at all. However, his incendiary attacks might be seen less as the bitter and rebellious yearning for unaccountable autonomy and more akin to the reformational heritage of summoning the true Church back to what it was called to be (and do). Notwithstanding the ever-present perils of pietistic self-righteousness, Kierkegaard's exceptional critique cannot be (ecclesiologically) dismissed purely because of the contextual absence of an overtly positive vision. This article will by no means let Kierkegaard off his own hook, but it will attempt to retrieve Kierkegaard's ecclesial stance as a potentially constructive voice within today's post-Christendom Church, which, though apparently safeguarded from Kierkegaard's Christendomian laments, remains complexly inescapable from them. |
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| ISSN: | 0040-5736 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Theology today
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1177/0040573615610419 |