The aim of this article is to reconstruct an existential vision of theodicy from the religious writings of Kierkegaard – one which could constitute a response to the limits of classic theodicy. As distinct from classic theodicy, which has an immanent and theoretical dimension, Kierkegaard’s considerations take a transcendent and practical form. Good and evil are not here objective and moral markers of a human’s life, but first and foremost determine the subjective and spiritual relationship of a human being with God. With this transcendent and spiritual account of good and evil it becomes possible to revalue their immanent vision and to show that what people consider good and evil in temporality constitutes not ultimate reality, but the possibility for spiritual reality – one in which what is ultimately good and evil for a human being is only decided in relation to God. Kierkegaard’s transcendent account of evil on the one hand provides a clear explanation of the problem of evil and suffering in the world, and on the other hand points out to the relativity of all immanent attempts to answer this question.
Based on Kierkegaard’s interpretation of the maxim Love is the fulfillment of the law the present article seeks to show how consistent use of Kierkegaard’s terminology can aid in discovering the affirmative vision of Christianity implicitly contained in the philosopher’s religious writings. The starting point is in this case the Christian, spiritual account of love as established by God in every human being which fully manifests itself in the love for one’s neighbor. Only such a love is able to fulfill the law, that is, to make the temporal, human life entirely comprehensible and full of meaning. In order to approach this thesis properly, a differentiation between the possibility of love (law, nature) and the reality of love (love, eternity) is introduced. In effect, it is shown how the concepts of law and love, related to each other dialectically, are able to explain the fundamental relation of the temporal to the eternal in human existence. The pattern as to how this relation of love to the law should be played out is Jesus Christ, as one who, by his love for God, fulfilled the law of God’s love for man. In this act, he created for every human being the possibility of reconciliation with God and established Christianity as a positive religion, one in which there is actually no negative element in existence.
The aim of this essay is to create a coherent theistic model of a solution to the problem of evil. To this end, it is shown that the differences in Kierkegaard’s and Plantinga’s accounts of the problem of evil can be reconciled if looked at from a broader theistic perspective. This requires, on the one hand, that Plantinga’s immanent and logical vision be extended to include Kierkegaard’s spiritual and existential view of evil, and, on the other hand, that a correction be made to Kierkegaard’s view thereof, as a result of the way in which Plantinga presents the relationship between good and moral evil in the world. Consequently, in Plantinga’s Free Will Defense the existence of God is consistent with the existence of evil, not because God has a reason to permit evil in the world, but because evil as a real element of the temporal world does not come from God. In Kierkegaard’s Free Spirit Offense, in turn, the interpretative model applied demonstrates that the existence of moral good must be independent of the existence of spiritual evil, for otherwise the moral evil of immanence would not be able to be forgiven by the spiritual good of transcendence.
This paper is an attempt to read Kierkegaard’s upbuilding discourses centred around the theme “Every Good and Perfect Gift is From Above” in the perspective of hermeneutics of the gift presented by John Paul II in his book Man and Woman He Created Them. The authors analyze two completely different biblical themes-the Pope examines the issue of corporeality of the first people on the basis of Genesis, whereas Kierkegaard studies the creative power of God’s word in human existence, focusing on a passage from the Epistle of James. They show that the relationship between human beings and God, despite its individual character, may come into being only through the involvement of another person. The center of this meeting of two people in God is the already mentioned gift, understood here, in the highest sense, as a gift of love in which both parties are giving and receiving at the same time. The convergence of conclusions of both authors shows the anthropological coherence of the message of the Holy Scripture and gives rise to reflections on the essence of humanity.
This paper analyzes the problem of suffering in Kierkegaard’s thought on the basis of two main parts of his work: pseudonymous writings and upbuilding discourses. The main assumption is that Kierkegaard presents the problem of suffering differently in these two parts: in the pseudonymous writings from the viewpoint of the negative dialectic of paradox, and in the upbuilding discourses in terms of the positive dialectic of upbuilding. Therefore, the problem of suffering is examined separately in both these parts: in the pseudonymous writings as the phenomenology of suffering and in the upbuilding discourses as the hermeneutics of suffering. The most important conclusion is that the experience of suffering in Christianity has a completely positive dimension, because it is radically opposed to the experience of evil. The Christian suffering is in this approach, according to the pattern of Jesus Christ, an effect of the spiritual development of a human being in God and a place of God’s revelation in human existence. This understanding of Christian suffering leads to the discovery of a perspective of affirmative theophilosophy as an original interpretation of the Christian ideal presented by Kierkegaard.
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