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bradach's review against another edition
5.0
Wow Kierkegaard was a breath of fresh air, especially living in era of dry scientific objectivism. There are so many parallels between Kierkegaard and Nietzsche that at times, especially while reading Either/Or I felt like I could’ve been reading something by Nietzsche. I think Kierkegaard and Nietzsche would have agreed on so much, had Nietzsche read him and I would’ve paid to see Nietzsche’s reply to Kierkegaard’s arguments for faith but alas it is not to be.
davehershey's review against another edition
4.0
After learning about Kierkegaard in philosophy class way back when, and reading about his thought and ideas in numerous books, I finally got around to reading his own words. I've long wanted to read Kierkegaard and I did read Fear and Trembling a while back. But like many greats of the past, his writing is so voluminous that the amateur reader such as myself has no idea where to start. If only there was some compilation of his "essential" work...
(haha, I crack myself up!)
This book includes entries from the entirety of Kierkegaard's career. It definitely gives you a feel for his thought and how he matured and developed his thought over the years. While I appreciate these sort of compilation works, this one suffers in the same way they all do. That is, for all the good in giving a taste of his work, it also feels fragmented and incomplete. Would it be better just to dive in and work through Kierkegaard's great works, from Either/Or to The Sickness Unto Death? Perhaps. But though this work is fragmented, it does what it is supposed to in giving the reader a good entry point into Kierkegaard's world.
I like to be reading one book at a time from someone i consider a spiritual master. This is part of my own devotional reading, where I read a few pages a day in the hopes of being challenged and enriched by someone who has made this life journey before me. Kierkegaard, though he is a philosopher, can also be considered a spiritual master. That said, I found the first half or so of this book very difficult as it seemed heavier on the philosophy. The latter half, where he consistently challenges Christendom and reflects on Christian life, was much more up my alley. I suspect there may be some readers more interested in the philosophy side. It makes me wonder if there is a sort of "Essential Kierkegaard - the Spiritual Writings" or something. Don't get me wrong, the spiritual themes run through Kierkegaard's entire work, it just seemed more practical or personally challenging in his later works.
Overall though, if you want an introduction to Kierkegaard, this is the book for you. It is not easy, but it is worth it. And there is so much, especially in the second half, that is challenging.
As a sort of postscript: While I was finishing this up, I read Jacques Ellul's The Presence of the Kingdom and these two books made me...I'm not sure if "despair" is the right word. Kierkegaard talks at length on how many admire Jesus but few imitate him. Ellul is very critical of Christendom too. Together, it makes me wonder - are there just things built into Western Culture that inoculate us against actually being Christians? I don't mean that we're not sincere in our faith or that we're in danger of hellfire or anything. I just mean, when it comes to imitating Jesus (or in more contemporary parlance, being "radical") is just the fact we live in the culture we live in make this more difficult, if not impossible? I could point to all the failures I see in others. But I write this from my relatively comfortable house while my kids watch Netflix. Self denial? Suffering? I like the idea, but I also like my life. Or to put it another way, I can compare myself to many people to make myself feel like I am doing okay on the self-denial front...but I still recognize I am rather selfish and lazy. I suppose this is where grace reminds us that we are loved just as we are, though we are encouraged to continue to improve.
Anyway, tangent over. Read Kierkegaard...and Ellul.
(haha, I crack myself up!)
This book includes entries from the entirety of Kierkegaard's career. It definitely gives you a feel for his thought and how he matured and developed his thought over the years. While I appreciate these sort of compilation works, this one suffers in the same way they all do. That is, for all the good in giving a taste of his work, it also feels fragmented and incomplete. Would it be better just to dive in and work through Kierkegaard's great works, from Either/Or to The Sickness Unto Death? Perhaps. But though this work is fragmented, it does what it is supposed to in giving the reader a good entry point into Kierkegaard's world.
I like to be reading one book at a time from someone i consider a spiritual master. This is part of my own devotional reading, where I read a few pages a day in the hopes of being challenged and enriched by someone who has made this life journey before me. Kierkegaard, though he is a philosopher, can also be considered a spiritual master. That said, I found the first half or so of this book very difficult as it seemed heavier on the philosophy. The latter half, where he consistently challenges Christendom and reflects on Christian life, was much more up my alley. I suspect there may be some readers more interested in the philosophy side. It makes me wonder if there is a sort of "Essential Kierkegaard - the Spiritual Writings" or something. Don't get me wrong, the spiritual themes run through Kierkegaard's entire work, it just seemed more practical or personally challenging in his later works.
Overall though, if you want an introduction to Kierkegaard, this is the book for you. It is not easy, but it is worth it. And there is so much, especially in the second half, that is challenging.
As a sort of postscript: While I was finishing this up, I read Jacques Ellul's The Presence of the Kingdom and these two books made me...I'm not sure if "despair" is the right word. Kierkegaard talks at length on how many admire Jesus but few imitate him. Ellul is very critical of Christendom too. Together, it makes me wonder - are there just things built into Western Culture that inoculate us against actually being Christians? I don't mean that we're not sincere in our faith or that we're in danger of hellfire or anything. I just mean, when it comes to imitating Jesus (or in more contemporary parlance, being "radical") is just the fact we live in the culture we live in make this more difficult, if not impossible? I could point to all the failures I see in others. But I write this from my relatively comfortable house while my kids watch Netflix. Self denial? Suffering? I like the idea, but I also like my life. Or to put it another way, I can compare myself to many people to make myself feel like I am doing okay on the self-denial front...but I still recognize I am rather selfish and lazy. I suppose this is where grace reminds us that we are loved just as we are, though we are encouraged to continue to improve.
Anyway, tangent over. Read Kierkegaard...and Ellul.
skitch41's review
3.0
I had heard about the philosopher Kierkegaard some time ago and had this book on my list of things to read for some time. Now that I have finally finished reading it, I can say that his works are very interesting, but also very difficult to grasp at times. Since this book is made with philosophy students in mind, this is not a book for the uninitiated to tread lightly into. Some of the excerpted works are excellent and I will definitely be looking to read them in their entirety in the future (Fear and Trembling, The Sickness Unto Death, and his more religious works written in his later years come to mind), but not all of his works are interesting. In fact, one of my biggest problems with this book is that the least interesting works of Kierkegaard seemed to get more pages than the more interesting works. It's frustrating to read 10 pages of something really good only to have to plod through 20-50 pages of something incredibly boring afterwards. The other problem I had with this book was the editors' notes at the beginning of each excerpted work. They are interesting for those who want a little biography and background information on Kierkegaard, but they do almost nothing to help the reader to understand what they are reading. Some more in-depth notes to explain the works' main ideas either at the beginning of the excerpts or interspersed as editors' footnotes throughout would have done much to aid my understanding and enjoyment of this book. I will definitely be looking for that in the next book of Kierkegaard I find the time to read.
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