Companion to Kierkegaard

“‘Companions’ to important thinkers help readers focus on the main drift of their texts with the help of a dig into their origin and some account of their reception. This one digs deeper, and over a wider terrain, than most. But it does more. Besides guiding us to the staples of theology and philosophy in Kierkegaard’s background, it also looks forward to a future, as if Kierkegaard, too, might be taken by the arm and told that here was something that should interest him (about politics, social life, psychology, education, literary theory, deconstruction, theatre). It is as much a sign of the extraordinary richness of Kierkegaard’s literary palette as of the now wide currency of his thought that its elements can become topics in their own right, with Kierkegaard their inspiration. Jon Stewart and his authors are to be congratulated for bringing this unique thinker into our living presence on such a scale and with so many things to talk about.”

Alastair Hannay, Professor Emeritus, University of Oslo

Born in Copenhagen in 1813, Søren Kierkegaard produced a remarkable amount of work during his fairly short life. When he died in 1855 he left behind a complex and interdisciplinary legacy that continues to spark academic debate. Edited by one of the world’s leading Kierkegaard scholars, A Companion to Kierkegaard provides the most comprehensive single-volume overview of Kierkegaard studies currently available. Featuring contributions from an international array of scholars, the collection covers all the major topics within the broad field of Kierkegaard research, including philosophy, theology, aesthetics, art, literary theory, social sciences, and politics. Kierkegaard’s contribution to each of these disciplines is illustrated through examination of the sources he drew upon, the reception of his ideas, and the unique conceptual insights he brought to each topic.

A Companion to Kierkegaard demystifies the complex field of Kierkegaard studies providing the ideal entry-point into his writing for readers at all levels. This collection will be an essential tool for students and scholars from across the disciplines who are interested in learning more about this important and influential thinker.

Jon Stewart is Associate Professor at the Søren Kierkegaard Research Centre at the University of Copenhagen. He is the editor of the Kierkegaard Research: Sources, Reception and Resources, Texts from Golden Age Denmark, and Danish Golden Age Studies series. He is the co-editor of the Kierkegaard Studies Yearbook and the Kierkegaard Studies Monograph series. Former leader of the Nordic Network of Kierkegaard Research and the International Kierkegaard Network, his published books include, Kierkegaard’s Relations to Hegel Reconsidered (2003), Idealism and Existentialism: Hegel and Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century European Philosophy (2010), The Unity of Hegel’s “Phenomenology of Spirit”: A Systematic Interpretation (2011), The Unity of Content and Form in Philosophical Writing: The Perils of Conformity (2013), and The Cultural Crisis of the Danish Golden Age: Heiberg, Martensen and Kierkegaard (2015).