Can Kierkegaard Preach?

Abstract

I will look at the work of Søren Kierkegaard as a preliminary case study. Accordingly, the specific question that will occupy us here is: “Can Kierkegaard Preach?” I mean for this question to be heard in two ways. On the one hand, this question asks if the ideas of Kierkegaard can be translated into the mode of discourse that would make for productive (perhaps “moving”) sermons in the setting of contemporary church services. On the other hand, this question asks if Kierkegaard, himself, could deliver such sermons. The first formulation concerns primarily the subjectivity of Christian life and the second formulation concerns primarily the authority of Christian witness. In this all too brief essay, I will suggest that Kierkegaard’s though can indeed “preach,” but whether Kierkegaard himself can “preach it” depends on how we understand the role and task of preaching itself

Keywords

• kierkegaard
• christianity
• man
• preacher