Claim OwnershipBierkergaard: The Writings of Soren Kierkegaard
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© Eric Bierker Ph.D.
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"The Father of Existentialism" Danish writer, poet, philosopher, and Christian thinker Soren Kierkegaard, has much to teach us about our lives. Join me weekly as we take on his writings and think about how his brilliant and profound insights illuminate our way in a complicated and confusing world. I contribute a considerable amount of my own processing of Soren’s ideas and add my own personal experiences. As Soren would wish his readers to do. This is spiritual insight and truth for the real world.
238 Episodes
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Kierkegaard writes that one does not become a Christian by being born in Christendom. Instead, it is being born-again by Faith in God. Put personal updates mostly at the end besides talking about Sam the dog.
Kierkegaard continues to develop the idea that the Triumphant Church is just another term for a Worldly Church. As a side note, based on the stats for the podcast, it seems like the listeners of Bierkergaard enjoy the foray into my personal life stories. I know that is not everyone's cup of tea but many more seem to like it versus not.
Kierkegaard demonstrates the errors of the Triumphant Church vs. the Militant Church. In a culture where almost everyone is a Christian is likely a culture where few are. I get into a riff on bitterness at the front of the episode.
"I only know Truth when it becomes a life in me." Kierkegaard. Knowing truth intellectually is only part of knowing Truth in our whole Being.
When Pilate asked this infamous question, he was staring right at the Truth. Today's episode explores this exchange as well as who Pilate was.
Kierkegaard reminds us that Jesus being crucified casts the human race in quite an unflattering light.
"Now existence has racked him as hard as it can rack a person." (Kierkegaard). Sometimes all we can say, like Martin Luther, "I can do no other. God help me."
Kierkegaard writes in his book "Works of Love" that if you hold humanity up to the light, you will see the watermark of eternity. Regardless of what is written on the paper. We are made in the image of God. The Incarnation is the eternal God coming into the temporal world. What Soren calls "Perfect Ideality" in "Training in Christianity." We must treat others as glorious first before anything else.
Life for most of us is long enough to weigh what we believe and why. Yet, life is short in light of eternity. Too many people exchange what is passing for what is eternal. Kierkegaard reminds us it is a period of trial and examination. It comes to an end.
Kierkegaard writes, "The world in which they crucify love and beg acquittal for a robber." The Resurrection of Jesus is both a physical reality and a spiritual necessity. For love is stronger than death.
This is Soren at his best. Creating a story about a child, who for the first time, sees a picture of Jesus crucified. And then hears that Jesus loved all people, Saviour of the World, and is both the Humiliated and Exalted One. We cannot allow the familiarity of the story cause us to not be jarred by its incongruity.
Every day was a preparation for His Burial. Listen to the podcast episode to find out why!
Christ is both the Humiliated One and the Exalted One. The word is translated as contradiction. I think a better word is paradox. He is both without being divided. In human terms, might often makes right in the politics of power in the world. God is both might and right.
When Christ draws us, we become truly ourselves.
As we look behind and peer ahead at this time of year, let's keep our faith in God and take it a day at a time. The daily altar of coming to Him.
Today, the episode goes further in-depth on the Kierkegaardian idea of not taking a risk is the greatest risk. Then, a bit of Training in Christianity is read. Finally, we end with an allegory of the King and the Maiden which shows the Incarnation in an imaginative way. All the blessings of the season!
Soren establishes both the reality of Christ's Humiliation and His Exaltation. It is exaltation through humiliation. Both are required for an understanding of how God used what looked like overwhelming defeat for ultimate victory. An application of what this looks like in our own lives is explored.
Soren writes that to forget the regrets, sins, and vanities of our past, we need to look to Jesus. Those difficult memories must be replaced by something and someone greater. Look unto Jesus lifted up.
Soren continues to write about "Indirect Communication" so I named this episode Indirect Communication II. I am committed to reading Soren line-by-line so the repetition of themes are unavoidable. Hopefully, you as the listener still find new insights!
Soren writes about the internal "Soul Sorrow" of Jesus. The "Divine Incognito" obscures an inner sorrow of coming into a world broken by sin. One that the God-Man has been ordained to restore by His broken body. Lowrie suggests that Kierkegaard has soul sorrow in his breaking of the Engagement to Regine. While having an outward incognito of being the least serious man in Copenhagen.
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