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Sren Kierkegaard has been called many things, from brooding genius and “melancholy Dane” to the father of existentialism. Yet, rather than clarify the nature of Kierkegaards writings, such labels have often obscured other important aspects of his authorship. Such, indeed, is the case with Kierkegaards standing as a spiritual author.
In From Despair to Faith: The Spirituality of Sren Kierkegaard, Christopher B. Barnett endeavors to remedy this problem. He does so in two overarching ways. First, he orients the reader to Kierkegaards grounding in the Christian spiritual tradition, as well as to the Danes own authorial stress on themes such as upbuilding, spiritual journey, and faith. Second, Barnett maintains that Kierkegaards spirituality is best understood through the various “pictures” that populate his authorship. These pictures are deemed “icons of faith,” since Kierkegaard consistently recommends that the reader contemplate them. In this way, they both represent and communicate what Kierkegaard sees as the fulfillment of Christian existence.
In the end, then, From Despair to Faith not only offers a new way of approaching Kierkegaard’s writings, but also shows how they might serve to illuminate and to deepen one’s relationship with the divine.
ASIN : B00LLOEY74
Publisher : Fortress Press (August 1, 2014)
Publication date : August 1, 2014
Language : English
File size : 989 KB
Text-to-Speech : Enabled
Screen Reader : Supported
Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
X-Ray : Not Enabled
Word Wise : Enabled
Print length : 237 pages
4.5
Reviewer: Bryan Christman
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Excellent upbuilding treatment of Kierkegaard’s literary use of natural and Biblical “icons.”
Review: Barnett’s book wondrously helps the non-scholar to be able to draw more deeply from one of the most interesting aspects of Kierkegaard’s writings, his use of “icons” (or pictures) from the natural world and the Biblical writings. Barnett achieves what Kierkegaard aimed at for his own readers, to help them edifyingly experience God and God’s world through the conduit of icons.
Reviewer: Maxime Valcourt Blouin
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: An interesting book, but do not miss the whole picture
Review: If you ask me, this book should have been titled “From despair to faith: Kierkegaard as spiritual writer”. While it contains many interesting insights into Kierkegaard’s spiritual thought, I would have to say I had quite often the impression that the main goal of this work was primarily to defend the thesis that Kierkegaard should be considered a spiritual writer (among other things).This book is divided into five chapters. The first chapter more broadly tries to replace Kierkegaard into the Christian spiritual tradition, notably by comparing him to figures such as Bernard of Clairvaux and Meister Eckhart. The second chapter presents a quick overview of Kierkegaard’s spiritual conception of the self as described in his book “The sickness unto death”. The third chapter is more original; it seeks to show that Kierkegaard adhered to a form of spiritual or theological “aesthetics” akin to Jean-Luc Marion’s philosophy of the icon (thus answering criticisms adressed to Kierkegaard by Hans Urs von Balthasar, among others). The last two chapters, finally, take as a point of departure what has been exposed in the previous three chapters to present Kierkegaard’s main “icons of faith”, which were taken by him either from the natural world (chapter 4) or from the Bible (chapter 5).This book’s approach is quite interesting in it’s own right, and there are many insights to gain from it. Namely, one can find in it a quite interesting interpretation of how Kierkegaard, despite his criticism of images in the arts, himself resorted to images to move his readers in various ways. It also contains a strong argument against those who have the tendency to consider Kierkegaard only as a philosopher or as a literary author. However I think it remains, as far as Kierkegaard’s spirituality is concerned, at best a rough overview of the subject. It is so because Kierkegaard’s spirituality permeates all of Kierkegaard’s authorship, including his more philosophical and literary works. Such a point becomes clear once one analyzes seriously his philosophy of communication, upon which he developed his own body of works. A complete treatment of Kierkegaard’s spiritual authorship would necessarily have to deal in the end also with the less obviously “upbuilding” books of Kierkegaard such as the “Concluding unscientific postscript” and how these books are also “spiritual” in their own way. This is not what Barnett seems to do in this book, which is resolutely centered on the explicitely upbuilding texts of Kierkegaard.Another limit of this book is that in the end, the conception of Kierkegaard’s spirituality it presents is a bit too sentimental and optimistic. The last “icon of faith” it presents is that of the “woman who was a sinner”, and Barnett interpets this figure as meaning that in the end, spirituality means for Kierkegaard adopting a receptive attitude towards grace and letting oneself be transformed by God. While this aspect of Kierkegaard’s spirituality is presented quite correctly, Barnett says nothing of the necessary CLASH between the faithful individual and the world which follows this transformation. Once you start having a genuine inner life, this inner life must accomplish itself externally through works, and for Kierkegaard it necessarily implies a conflict with the world and it’s un-godly values.Barnett is obviously unconfortable with this aspect of Kierkegaard’s message; this appears clearly when he mentions in his book the last part of Kierkegaard’s authorship and the book “Fear and trembling”. Now, while he has the right to disagree with the way Kierkegaard chose to end his authorship, I believe it is misleading to omit this aspect of his literary carreer while acting as though one is giving an adequate picture of his spirituality. As it is, Barnett’s book presents a vision of Kierkegaard’s spirituality that is indeed more “palatable”, but also edulcorated.Nevertheless, this book remains quite original and interesting, and a good reference to understand Kierkegaard’s thought about spiritual matters. Barnett does not exhaust the subject matter he adresses, but he gives a good introduction to it that is quite easy to read and enjoyable.
Reviewer: Darian Burns
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Kierkegaard For Those Needing Hope
Review: I studied philosophy, perhaps it is better stated that I took a class in philosophy while at Samford University in the early 1990s. If we covered Kierkegaard, we probably did, I have no memory of him. In fairness to me, I was in the middle of a divorce, discovering my youngest had autism and becoming a single father of three preschoolers. My studies were pretty low in my priorities at the time. However, a few years ago a friend gave me a copy of âProvocations: Spiritual Writings of Kierkegaardâ and I devoured the book. I say all this for you to understand that when I got a chance to review Christopher Barnettâs âFrom Despair to Faith: The Spirituality of Soren Kierkegaardâ I jumped at the chance.Unlike âProvocationsâ, which is a collection of Kierkegaardâs writing concerning faith, âFrom Despair to Faithâ reviews the philosopherâs life and faith. Barnettâs writing puts Kierkegaard into context and paints a fuller portrait of his thoughts. The result is that Barnett adds color and points out the life that surrounded and still surrounds Kierkegaardâs thinking and beliefs about faith, despair, spirituality and Christianity. Readers are skillfully shown that the wisdom shared by Kierkegaard long ago can breath life into their experience and life with God.This is an excellent book for anyone wanting to know more about Soren Kierkegaard, but it is also a solid addition to those wanting to broaden and deepen their faith.
Reviewer: SB
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Great Book
Review: This book helped me understand life
Reviewer: Clint Schnekloth
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Kierkegaardian spirituality
Review: There are many ways to assess Kierkegaard. He was a philosopher. He was a great prose stylist. He has had incredible influence on much of Western culture. What Barnett adds to the literature on Kierkegaard is a reconsideration of Kierkegaard as a spiritual writer. Since Kierkegaard himself thought of himself in this way, it is quite appropriate. However, what is fascinating about this study is the focus on aesthetics and icons in Kierkegaards thought. It’s a lovely little book, and will help all readers of Kierkegaard return to the heart of K.
