Kierkegaard, Religion and the Nineteenth-Century Crisis of Culture

Kierkegaard is often viewed in the history of ideas solely within the academic traditions of philosophy and theology. The secondary literature generally ignores the fact that he also took an active role in the public debate about the significance of the modern age that was taking shape in the flourishing feuilleton literature during the period of his authorship. Through a series of sharply focussed studies, George Pattison contextualises Kierkegaard’s religious thought in relation to the debates about religion, culture and society carried on in the newspapers and journals read by the whole educated stratum of Danish society. Pattison brings Kierkegaard into relation to not only high art and literature but also to the ephemera of his contemporary culture. This has important implications for our understanding of Kierkegaard’s view of the nature of religious communication in modern society.

• A unique examination of Kierkegaard within the context of and in relation to the culture, society and religion of his time • Comparative studies with important contemporaries and other nineteenth century figures including Manet and Dostoevsky • Detailed discussions of such pertinent topics as the sublime, reading, popular culture and the value assigned to novelty

Introduction; 1. The sublime, the city and the present age; 2. Kierkegaard and the world of the feuilletons; 3. The present age: the age of the city; 4. ‘Cosmopolitan faces’; 5. Food for thought; 6. A literary scandal; 7. The reception of Either/Or; 8. New Year’s day; 9. Kierkegaard and the nineteenth century (1) Manet; 10. Kierkegaard and the nineteenth century (2) Dostoevsky; 11. Reading the signs of the times.

‘A set of studies that are genuinely original and thought-provoking.’

– John Saxbee, Church Times