Master Kierkegaard: Summer 1847


Book Description

Master Kierkegaard is a diary kept by a fictional servant in the house of Soren Kierkegaard. The strong-willed but faithful Magda, a well-educated and "fallen" woman from Berlin, considers herself fortunate to have found domestic work in Copenhagen and yet is plagued by her own demons. Two journals set in the summer of 1847, while Kierkegaard wrote his Works of Love, record Magda's reflections on Scripture, literature, and life, focusing on her sporadic yet intimate interactions with her master, Denmark's premier writer, theologian, and philosopher.




Master Kierkegaard: The Complete Journals


Book Description

In this serial work of religious historical fiction, Magda, a "fallen woman" from Berlin turned maidservant in the house of Sren Kierkegaard, seeks the full life that has thus far eluded her. Two journals set in the summer of 1847 record Magda's responses to the Luther Bible, Goethe's Faust, and her elusive yet compelling master, who is simultaneously crafting his Works of Love. Three journals set in the fall, winter, and "people's spring" of 1847 and 1848 reflect Magda's ongoing engagement with secular and sacred writings, her sporadic yet intimate interactions with her master, the precariousness of her position in his household, and the rapidly changing social landscape, at the same time as Kierkegaard begins, revises, or completes several of his most existential and prophetic works. A sixth journal set in the summer of 1848 reveals Magda's final disposition. Is she judged, or is she saved?




Master Kierkegaard: Fall / Winter / Spring 1847–1848


Book Description

In this second volume of Master Kierkegaard, the fictional German maidservant Magda continues to record her relationship with Scripture, literature, and her elusive yet compelling master. Three journals set in the fall, winter, and "peoples" spring of 1847 and 1848 reflect the precariousness of Magda's position in the household and the rapidly changing social landscape, at the same time as Kierkegaard began, revised, or completed several of his most existential and prophetic works.




The Oxford Handbook of Kierkegaard


Book Description

The Oxford Handbook of Kierkegaard brings together some of the most distinguished contemporary contributors to Kierkegaard research together with some of the more gifted younger commentators on Kierkegaard's work. There is significant input from scholars based in Copenhagen's Søren Kierkegaard Research Centre, as well as from philosophers and theologians from Britain, Germany, and the United States. Part 1 presents some of the philological, historical, and contextual work that has been produced in recent years, establishing a firm basis for the more interpretative essays found in following parts. This includes looking at the history of his published and unpublished works, his cultural and social context, and his relation to Romanticism, German Idealism, the Church, the Bible, and theological traditions. Part 2 moves from context and background to the exposition of some of the key ideas and issues in Kierkegaard's writings. Attention is paid to his style, his treatment of ethics, culture, society, the self, time, theology, love, irony, and death. Part 3 looks at the impact of Kierkegaard's thought and at how it continues to influence philosophy, theology, and literature. After an examination of issues around translating Kierkegaard, this section includes comparisons with Nietzsche, Heidegger, and Wittgenstein, as well as examining his role in modern theology, moral theology, phenomenology, postmodernism, and literature.




The Writer and the Cross


Book Description

Spiritually engaged readers commonly look toward fiction to better understand the depth of a faithful life, and Christians are no exception. Many followers of Jesus value beautifully written, deftly characterized and pulse-quickening literary art that seems more satisfying than dry, tedious doctrinal textbooks. This book surveys 12 pieces of historical fiction that feature notable Christian thinkers. They include an illustrated children's book about St. Irenaeus of Lyons, a novel about Martin Luther's Reformation, a screenplay focusing on Dietrich Bonhoeffer and even a story about Pope Francis narrated in popular manga style. Rather than arcane literary analyses, this book provides thoughtful and sometimes painful interviews with the authors of the covered works. Most interviewees are little known or emerging writers. Some have published their work with a church or denominational press, others with a major publishing empire or popular print-on-demand platforms. Storytellers reflect on their literary choices and the contexts of their writing, sharing what modern Christians can learn from historical religious fiction.




Kierkegaard's Journals and Notebooks, Volume 4


Book Description

For over a century, the Danish thinker Søren Kierkegaard (1813-55) has been at the center of a number of important discussions, concerning not only philosophy and theology, but also, more recently, fields such as social thought, psychology, and contemporary aesthetics, especially literary theory. Despite his relatively short life, Kierkegaard was an extraordinarily prolific writer, as attested to by the 26-volume Princeton University Press edition of all of his published writings. But Kierkegaard left behind nearly as much unpublished writing, most of which consists of what are called his "journals and notebooks." Kierkegaard has long been recognized as one of history's great journal keepers, but only rather small portions of his journals and notebooks are what we usually understand by the term "diaries." By far the greater part of Kierkegaard's journals and notebooks consists of reflections on a myriad of subjects--philosophical, religious, political, personal. Studying his journals and notebooks takes us into his workshop, where we can see his entire universe of thought. We can witness the genesis of his published works, to be sure--but we can also see whole galaxies of concepts, new insights, and fragments, large and small, of partially (or almost entirely) completed but unpublished works. Kierkegaard's Journals and Notebooks enables us to see the thinker in dialogue with his times and with himself. Volume 4 of this 11-volume series includes the first five of Kierkegaard's well-known "NB" journals, which contain, in addition to a great many reflections on his own life, a wealth of thoughts on theological matters, as well as on Kierkegaard's times, including political developments and the daily press. Kierkegaard wrote his journals in a two-column format, one for his initial entries and the second for the extensive marginal comments that he added later. This edition of the journals reproduces this format, includes several photographs of original manuscript pages, and contains extensive scholarly commentary on the various entries and on the history of the manuscripts being reproduced.




Kierkegaard: Intellectual maturity, 1844-1847


Book Description

The second book of a two-volume biography of Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard.




Master Kierkegaard


Book Description

In this serial work of religious historical fiction, Magda, a ""fallen woman"" from Berlin turned maidservant in the house of Soren Kierkegaard, seeks the full life that has thus far eluded her. Two journals set in the summer of 1847 record Magda's responses to the Luther Bible, Goethe's Faust, and her elusive yet compelling master, who is simultaneously crafting his Works of Love. Three journals set in the fall, winter, and ""people's spring"" of 1847 and 1848 reflect Magda's ongoing engagement with secular and sacred writings, her sporadic yet intimate interactions with her master, the precariousness of her position in his household, and the rapidly changing social landscape, at the same time as Kierkegaard begins, revises, or completes several of his most existential and prophetic works. A sixth journal set in the summer of 1848 reveals Magda's final disposition. Is she judged, or is she saved? ""Through the changing of the seasons in a year of revolutions, a maidservant reflects on the Bible . . . and the anguish and hope of her master, the Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard. Ellen Brown has crafted an understated, heartfelt, and moving meditation on the enigmatic man, religion, the position of women in society, and a life of exile and liberation."" --Marshall Brown, Professor of Comparative Literature at the University of Washington, editor of Modern Language Quarterly, and author of The Shape of German Romanticism ""Readers of Magda's diary from the summer of 1847 will be delighted with these journals, which continue her life story alongside her continuing reflections on Scripture, literature, and life. Like the first volume, this collection is filled with spiritual insight and wisdom. The life story takes a surprising turn, or was it to be expected? Magda's characterization of Kierkegaard is poetic and convincing."" --Adela Yarbro Collins, Buckingham Professor of New Testament Criticism and Interpretation at Yale Divinity School Ellen Brown lives in Connecticut. Her publications prior to Master Kierkegaard include essays on Percy Shelley's Prometheus Unbound and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.




Master Kierkegaard: The Complete Journals


Book Description

In this serial work of religious historical fiction, Magda, a "fallen woman" from Berlin turned maidservant in the house of Soren Kierkegaard, seeks the full life that has thus far eluded her. Two journals set in the summer of 1847 record Magda's responses to the Luther Bible, Goethe's Faust, and her elusive yet compelling master, who is simultaneously crafting his Works of Love. Three journals set in the fall, winter, and "people's spring" of 1847 and 1848 reflect Magda's ongoing engagement with secular and sacred writings, her sporadic yet intimate interactions with her master, the precariousness of her position in his household, and the rapidly changing social landscape, at the same time as Kierkegaard begins, revises, or completes several of his most existential and prophetic works. A sixth journal set in the summer of 1848 reveals Magda's final disposition. Is she judged, or is she saved?




A Short Life of Kierkegaard


Book Description

A small, insignificant-looking intellectual with absurdly long legs, Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) was a veritable Hans Christian Andersen caricature of a man. A strange combination of witty cosmopolite and melancholy introvert, he spent years writing under a series of fantastical pseudonyms, lavishing all the splendor of his magnificent mind on a seldom-appreciative world. He had a tragic love affair with a young girl, was dominated by an unforgettable Old Testament father, fought a sensational literary duel with a popular satiric magazine, and died in the midst of a violent quarrel with the state church for which he had once studied theology. Yet this iconoclast produced a number of brilliant books that have profoundly influenced modern thought. In this classic biography, the celebrated Kierkegaard translator Walter Lowrie presents a charming and warmly appreciative introduction to the life and work of the great Danish writer. Lowrie tells the story of Kierkegaard's emotionally turbulent life with a keen sense of drama and an acute understanding of how his life shaped his thought. The result is a wonderfully informative and entertaining portrait of one of the most important thinkers of the past two centuries. This edition also includes Lowrie's wry essay "How Kierkegaard Got into English," which tells the improbable story of how Lowrie became one of Kierkegaard's principal English translators despite not learning Danish until he was in his 60s, as well as a new introduction by Kierkegaard scholar Alastair Hannay.