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morganawilson 's review for:
The Sickness unto Death
by Søren Kierkegaard
this is a book about existentialism from a very Christian perspective. it is known as “A Christian psychological exposition for upbuilding and awakening.” I can’t say I would have read this book on my own, as I was assigned it for a class, but alas…
here are my thoughts:
• Kierkegaard writes not from his own perspective, but takes on specific personas and writes from their perspectives. the persona writing this is known as Anti-Climacus. this person is an “uber” Christian and also incredibly misogynistic. he divides despair into feminine and masculine, essentially says that women can’t be Christian, and more
• while I do not agree with this perspective on almost all things, I do agree with their concept of Christianity vs Christendom. “Christians” misinterpret Christianity, and fall into Christendom, which is where your faith is dependent on authority from institutionalized versions of Christianity (which constitutes a real lack of faith).
• you cannot surface level read this book. if you do, none of it will make any sense. once you understand the main argument (the self is a relation that relates itself to itself and in relating itself to itself to another that constitutes the relation), the rest will make sense. but at face-value, this text is incredibly intimidating and I feel as thought this persona’s perspective is even a bit condescending of that.
rating: ⭐️⭐️/5. I know that Kierkegaard is a very respected philosopher. I find his personas fairly interesting, and I do recognize that this text was written in 1849. however, I could not get past the blatant misogyny present throughout this text and the condescending nature of the persona. I appreciate the effort into explaining existentialism, but it is simply not for me
here are my thoughts:
• Kierkegaard writes not from his own perspective, but takes on specific personas and writes from their perspectives. the persona writing this is known as Anti-Climacus. this person is an “uber” Christian and also incredibly misogynistic. he divides despair into feminine and masculine, essentially says that women can’t be Christian, and more
• while I do not agree with this perspective on almost all things, I do agree with their concept of Christianity vs Christendom. “Christians” misinterpret Christianity, and fall into Christendom, which is where your faith is dependent on authority from institutionalized versions of Christianity (which constitutes a real lack of faith).
• you cannot surface level read this book. if you do, none of it will make any sense. once you understand the main argument (the self is a relation that relates itself to itself and in relating itself to itself to another that constitutes the relation), the rest will make sense. but at face-value, this text is incredibly intimidating and I feel as thought this persona’s perspective is even a bit condescending of that.
rating: ⭐️⭐️/5. I know that Kierkegaard is a very respected philosopher. I find his personas fairly interesting, and I do recognize that this text was written in 1849. however, I could not get past the blatant misogyny present throughout this text and the condescending nature of the persona. I appreciate the effort into explaining existentialism, but it is simply not for me