Kierkegaard, Religion and the Nineteenth-Century Crisis of Culture

by George Pattison

Overview

Through a series of sharply focused studies, George Pattison examines Kierkegaard's religious thought—within the contextual framework of debates about religion, culture and society that were carried on in contemporary newspapers and journals read by the educated stratum of Danish society. Pattison not only considers Kierkegaard in relationship to high art and literature but to the Tivoli Gardens and the literary ephemera of his time. This has important implications for understanding Kierkegaard's view of the nature of religious communication in modern society.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521811705
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	07/04/2002
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	5.51(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.75(d)
Lexile:	1590L (what's this?)

About the Author

George Pattison is Lecturer in Practical Theology at the University of Aarhus, Denmark.

Table of Contents

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.

Editorial Reviews

'A set of studies that are genuinely original and thought-provoking.' John Saxbee, Church Times

'Kierkegaard's purpose, in these feuilleton writings, is 'to help us to develop, to refine and to sharpen the way in which we read our cultural situation, the way in which to read the signs of the times'. But before we can benefit from his wisdom in that regard, we have first to learn how to read Kierkegaard; and this is exactly what Pattison helps us to do in this always erudite and often entertaining collection.' Church Times

'Pattison's scrupulously researched work uncovers a Kierkegaard in many ways unfamiliar, and along the way counters a few myths that have grown up around him.' The London Magazine

'No one who studies Kierkegaard should be able to ignore it, and it should have something to offer all who are seeking to think what it means to live in and beyond modernity.' Theology

'… has performed the long-neglected and inestimably valuable service of situating Kierkegaard within the homiletic, academic, literary, and feuilleton literature of Denmark … a very full and satisfying discussion by this most astute, well-informed, and profound contemporary commentator on Kierkegaard.' The Heythrop Journal

From the Publisher

Pattison (practical theology, U. of Aarhus, Denmark) contextualizes Kierkegaard's religious thought in relation to the debates about religion, culture, and society that took place in the newspapers and journals read by educated Danes of the period. Chapters are comprised of extensively revised, previously published articles and cover topics including Kierkegaard and the world of the feuilletons and the reception of . Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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