Kierkegaard: An Introduction

"During the early 1800's a remarkable man lived in the rather remote city of Copenhagen. There he engaged his contemporaries in Socratic dialogue, aroused considerable excitement and rage by making a scandalously violent attack on the church of his day and, after he died in 1855, was promptly all but forgotten.

At the time, word of his death scarcely got beyond Denmark. Yet in the twentieth century, most of our problems find their focal point in the work of Søren Kierkegaard.

This theological and historical introduction to Kierkegaard shows his place in the nineteenth century, his method of thinking and writing, his major thrusts in Christian thought, and his continuing influence today. The account emphasizes Kierkegaard's dispute with Hegel's philosophy and Kierkegaard's attempt to introduce Christianity into Christendom.

The wealth of information about Christianity has caused men to forget what it means to exist as a Christian, said Kierkegaard. Through his dialectic and his use of irony, he tried to 'trick men into the truth'--to help them escape their illusions and be Christians.

This book is the first brief survey of Kierkegaard's though in English. Dr. Diem has written an authoritative work that will be a resource for years to come." --From inside cover