Table Of ContentKierKegaard’s influence on Theology
Tome i: german ProTesTanT Theology
Kierkegaard Research: Sources, Reception and Resources
Volume 10, Tome I
Kierkegaard Research: Sources, Reception and Resources
is a publication of the søren Kierkegaard research centre
General Editor
Jon sTewarT
Søren Kierkegaard Research Centre,
University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Editorial Board
finn gredal Jensen
KaTalin nun
PeTer ŠaJda
Advisory Board
lee c. barreTT
maría J. bineTTi
isTvÁn czaKÓ
heiKo schulz
curTis l. ThomPson
Kierkegaard’s
Influence on Theology
Tome I: German Protestant Theology
Edited by
Jon sTewarT
First published 2012 by Ashgate Publishing
Published 2016 by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
Copyright© 2012 Jon stewart and the contributors
Jon Stewart has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be
identified as the editor of this work.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised
in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or
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Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks,
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Kierkegaard’s influence on theology.
Tome I, German Protestant theology. – (Kierkegaard
research ; v. 10)
1. Kierkegaard, Søren, 1813–1855 – Influence. 2. Theology,
Doctrinal – Germany. 3. Protestant churches – Germany –
doctrines.
I. Series II. Stewart, Jon (Jon Bartley)
198.9-dc23
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Kierkegaard’s influence on theology / [edited by] Jon Stewart.
p. cm. — (Kierkegaard research v. 10)
includes indexes.
ISBN 978-1-4094-4478-7 (tome 1 : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-4094-4479-4
(tome 2 : alk. paper)—ISBN 978-1-4094-4480-0 (tome 3 : alk. paper) 1.
Kierkegaard, Søren, 1813–1855—Influence. 2. Theology. I. Stewart, Jon
(Jon Bartley)
BX4827.K5K55 2011
198’.9—dc23
2011041730
ISBN 9781409444787 (hbk)
Cover design by Katalin Nun
contents
List of Contributors vii
Preface ix
Acknowledgements xv
List of Abbreviations xvii
Karl barth:
The dialectic of attraction and repulsion
Lee C. Barrett 1
dietrich bonhoeffer:
Standing “in the Tradition of Paul, Luther, Kierkegaard, in the Tradition
of genuine christian Thinking”
Christiane Tietz 43
emil brunner:
Polemically Promoting Kierkegaard’s Christian Philosophy of Encounter
Curtis L. Thompson 65
rudolf bultmann:
Faith, Love, and Self-Understanding
Heiko Schulz 105
gerhard ebeling:
appreciation and critical appropriation of Kierkegaard
Derek R. Nelson 145
emanuel hirsch:
a german dialogue with “saint søren”
Matthias Wilke 155
Jürgen moltmann:
Taking a Moment for Trinitarian Eschatology
Curtis L. Thompson 185
franz overbeck:
Kierkegaard and the Decay of Christianity
David R. Law 223
vi Kierkegaard’s Influence on Theology
wolfhart Pannenberg:
Kierkegaard’s Anthropology Tantalizing Public Theology’s Reasoning Hope
Curtis L. Thompson 241
christoph schrempf:
The “swabian socrates” as Translator of Kierkegaard
Gerhard Schreiber 275
helmut Thielicke:
Kierkegaard’s Subjectivity for a Theology of Being
Kyle A. Roberts 321
Paul Tillich:
an ambivalent appropriation
Lee C. Barrett 335
ernst Troeltsch:
Kierkegaard, Compromise, and Dialectical Theology
Mark Chapman 377
Index of Persons 393
Index of Subjects 401
list of contributors
Lee C. Barrett, Lancaster Theological Seminary, 555 W. James St., Lancaster, PA
17603, USA.
Mark Chapman, Ripon College Cuddesdon, Oxford OX44 9EX, UK.
David R. Law, Department of Religions and Theology, School of Arts, Histories
and Cultures, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL, UK.
Derek R. Nelson, Thiel College, 75 College Avenue, Greenville, PA 16125, USA.
Kyle A. Roberts, Bethel Seminary, 3949 Bethel Drive, St. Paul, MN 55112, USA.
Gerhard Schreiber, Johann Wolfgang Goethe Universität, Fachbereich Ev.
Theologie, Systematische Theologie, Grüneburgplatz 1, D-60323 Frankfurt am
Main, Germany.
Heiko Schulz, Johann Wolfgang Goethe Universität, Fachbereich Ev. Theologie,
Systematische Theologie, Grüneburgplatz 1, D-60323 Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
Curtis L. Thompson, Thiel College, 75 College Avenue, Greenville, PA 16125–
2181, USA.
Christiane Tietz, Evangelisch-theologische Fakultät, Saarstraße 21, D-55099
Mainz, Germany.
Matthias Wilke, Platz der Göttinger Sieben 2, D-37073 Göttingen, Germany.
Preface
Kierkegaard has always enjoyed a rich reception in the fields of theology and
religious studies. This reception might seem to many to be obvious given the fact
that he is one of the most important Christian writers of the nineteenth century.
However, upon closer examination, the matter is not so obvious as it may seem since
Kierkegaard was by no means a straightforward theologian in any traditional sense.
He had no enduring interest in some of the main fields of theology such as church
history or biblical studies, and he is strikingly silent on many key Christian dogmas.
Moreover, he harbored a degree of animosity towards the university theologians
and churchmen of his own day. Despite this, he has been a source of inspiration for
numerous religious writers from different denominations and traditions.
The first tome of the present volume is dedicated to the reception of Kierkegaard
among german Protestant theologians and religious thinkers. The writings of
some of these figures also turned out to be instrumental for Kierkegaard’s major
breakthrough internationally shortly after the turn of the twentieth century. Prior to
that there had been a number of German translations, mostly from the pen of Albert
Bärthold, plus a few articles and dissertations. At roughly the same period a certain
interest in Kierkegaard’s thought was awakened among conservative theologians
like Johann Tobias Beck (1804–78), an interest which soon afterwards expanded to
liberal thinkers like Albrecht Ritschl (1822–89), Wilhelm Herrmann (1846–1922)
and, later, Karl Holl (1866–1926). Due to a number of reasons things changed
dramatically after the turn of the century. First and foremost, the pastor, liberal
theologian, and later free-thinker Christoph Schrempf (1860–1944) began to publish
in 1909 what was to become the first and for many years most widely read edition
of Kierkegaard’s collected works in German. Secondly, the outbreak of World War I
overshadowed the cultural optimism of Protestantism at the time and radically called
into question basic liberal convictions among catholic and Protestant theologians
alike. Leading figures of what, after the end of the war, became the movement
of “dialectical theology” included, among others, Karl Barth (1886–1968), Emil
Brunner (1889–1966), Paul Tillich (1886–1965), and Rudolf Bultmann (1884–
1976). Apart from their general impact on the development of Protestant theology
over the next couple of decades, these thinkers also spawned a steadily growing
awareness of, and interest in, Kierkegaard’s thought among generations of German
theology students. Emanuel Hirsch (1888–1972) is another name to be mentioned
in this context. He came from a somewhat different theological background and, in
contrast to the aforementioned authors, was infected by anti-Semitism and Nazism;
nevertheless, he, too, was greatly influenced by Kierkegaard and proved instrumental
in disseminating the latter’s thought, not least of all by producing the first complete
German edition of Kierkegaard’s published works (as well as parts of the Nachlass).
Both Barth and Hirsch (and also Tillich and Bultmann, though to a lesser degree)
