Sin, Despair, and the Other: The Works of Soren Kierkegaard

Authors

  • Scott M. O'Leary

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.6017/eurj.v1i1.8884

Keywords:

Spring 2005, humanities, philosophy

Abstract

Soren Kierkegaard, the mystic existentialist, questions the role of despairing human life in his celebrated text, The Sickness Unto Death. In a disquitision both persuasive and troubling, he insists that despair, far from being a state of consciousness which should be avoided, is in fact a spiritual mood that brings the individual dialectically closer to the divine. But how can we accept the paradoxes of faith that cause such terrible despair? Our inability to come to terms with the elements of Christianity that Kierkegaard himself calls offensive, such as original sin and God's total authority over man, lead to a pervasive loss of self-consciousness that Kierkegaard sees as the epidemic of modern civilization. Like a physician, Kierkegaard diagnoses our sickness, and his prescription for recovery is paradoxical and provoking.

Author Biography

Scott M. O'Leary

Scott M. O'Leary is a senior Philosophy and History double major with an emphasis on religous history and thought. Born in Lima, Peru, Scott has lived throughout South and Central America before settling in Traverse City, Missouri. Scott is active with the St. Thomas More Society, Phi Alpha Theta, and the Father Fred Foundation. He is also the regional director of the Soapbox Coalition, a non-partisan political outreach group dedicated to 18-30 year olds, and is a philosophy Teaching Assistant and a Resident Assistant. Inspiration for his work came from studies with Professor Kearney in Existentialism and Theories of Self-Hood, as well as Overcoming Onto-Theology by Merold Westphal.

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Published

2005-04-15

How to Cite

O’Leary, S. M. (2005). Sin, Despair, and the Other: The Works of Soren Kierkegaard. Elements, 1(1). https://doi.org/10.6017/eurj.v1i1.8884

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Section

Articles