Søren Kierkegaard on Reintroducing Christianity into Christendom (Stephen Backhouse)

seedbed.com
Seedbed's mission is to gather, connect, and resource the people of God to sow for a great awakening. // Find out more and join the awakening journey! seedbed.com
Christendom, rather than being an official connection between a government and a religion, is most often found in attitudes and mistaken assumptions. In today's Seven Minute Seminary, Dr. Stephen Backhouse demonstrates how Søren Kierkegaard can be appropriated to challenge our core assumptions about identity and allegiance.

[@luckyleo88]

The best thing that happened to me in finding myself in my faith (Catholicism), is reading about Soren Kierkegaard. I'm more than ever separated with the herd mentality of rules and laws of the church and closer to God himself. "To have faith is to lose your mind and win God" - Soren Kierkegaard God bless and good vibrations =)

[@godsstrength7129]

Based

[@tbillyjoeroth]

it's lonely out there; I hope you're prepared to be derided like Soren was.

[@WillWay]

This was such a beautiful treatise on one of the most prolific and “human” humans the world has ever known. His admonishment of an authentic life worth for Christ rings so deeply with me, I feel as if he were always a part of me and he is speaking directly to my soul. Thank you so very much for this, and God bless you friend

[@johnhoward1181]

Mr. Backhouse is saying some things that I've been talking about for sometime. In the U.S. it has reached the point where we think that Christ is our inheritance. To be American is to be Christian and vice versa. To be conservative is to be Christian. To be white is to be Christian. Nothing could be further from the truth. To be Christian is to be like Christ. Jesus told His followers to deny themselves, take up their cross and follow Him. Jesus also said to the people, "why call me Lord, Lord and then don't do what I tell you?"Luke 6:46 and Matthew 7:21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. By their fruits you will know them. Let's get back to the basics. Let's get back to the teachings of our God contained in the Holy scriptures that we call the Bible.

[@dochmbi]

Kierkegaard is great. He taught me how to live as a heroic individual, giving my life to my calling no matter what. I picked up juggling recently and love it so much that it's what I want to do, I don't care if I'll live as a poor man the rest of my life, I'm just going to juggle

[@euminkong]

Skateboarding for me...

[@luckyleo88]

Good man, hope you are going great. Blessings =)

[@Mormon_guy]

This comment is why I love philosophy - Camus

[@tbillyjoeroth]

wait until you are told to sacrifice your son, as Abraham was. A whole lot different than juggling.

[@sergeauclair2397]

From what I gather he is someone really worth reading.

[@sb4040]

Yes. He wrote more for today's generation than even his own, although his encounters with leaders of Christendom were pretty harsh. He abhorred falsity in any form, even attacking fellow Christian writer and fantasist Hans Christian Andersen for essentially being a fop.

[@acousticmotorbike2118]

Great challenge is considered here and the decision is vastly important

[@belfastholidaybreaks8414]

I enjoy your videos buddy. I like your take, slant and perspectives.

[@sb4040]

Thank you for this. Christianity vs. Christendom, and rarely do the twain meet.

[@kevinrombouts3027]

Very good comments here. Kierkegaard is incredibly relevant to all Christians.

[@Pfsif]

The American church is mainly filled with people "born" into it and have no true rebirth but the ubiquitous Sinners Prayer which magically gets you eternal security no matter what. I really like SK but one can not choose authentic Christ, but Christ will chose whom he will, period.

[@sb4040]

Correction, the _Father_ draws us to Christ.

[@maxcrow6392]

Kierkegaard writes from a different perspective though, that the Father calls everyone and it is our decision to answer the call (by His strength, not ours. It is important though that we can choose to refuse Him). If you read Kierkegaard with that belief he's perfectly coherent.

[@Alienum36]

Thank you for this! I have read Kierkegaard's works on Love and extruded much, but haven't considered this perspective.

[@Grandliseur]

Your last comments about being less... are on the mark. After all, Jesus told us that we had to put him, obedience to the Lord - above church, fellow man, family; and in doing so fulfilling our Love of God, Love of neighbor - and thus being brought into a personal relationship with Jesus.

[@drbonesshow1]

Kierkegaard's Cookbook was titled: From the Frying Pan to the Fire.

[@rogerpearce2839]

Thank you!

[@jennifersmart1550]

to me Angst is Dread -- more that everyday anxiety....

[@vincentelliott7445]

This was a nice presentation ...but to sum up Kierkegaard in five minutes would be something I imagine Kierkegaard would despise. Read Kierkegaard and see for yourself. For, if anything, Kierkegaard despised methods and summaries and representations which would seem to reduce 'a' self to an easily-understood system propounded, ironically, by another person. Kierkegaard is a fabulous writer and Christian.

[@Joeonline26]

Don't you think the guy in this video knows that? He's a Kierkegaard expert after all...

[@invertedfreak]

Kierkegaards definition of sin is to stand before God and not want to be oneself, or on the contrary, to stand before God and want to be oneself. He also called it despair. The way I understand it, is its the rejection of a persons own identity as a being that relates its own humanity and not a simple regurgitation of the beliefs and attitudes our culture holds dear. The modern age of objective philosophy diminishes the possibility for people to stand before divinity honestly, sincerely and without self deception. Having responsibility over your decisions is both attractive and repelling. That's what the anxiety is, which is not sin/despair. Kierkegaard described the state of sin as a sort of impotence or stagnation that is a sort of resulting side effect of sinking in anxiety. When you are afraid of taking responsibility, or more significantly, afraid of having the freedom too, you can't act for yourself. You can't even live authentically.

[@whatsinaname691]

The best part of Kierkegaard is also what gets him most criticized: he wrote everything from around 40 different perspectives, often in conflict so that his readers would have to make up their minds about what was the right interpretation. It’s unfortunately caused a lot of people to miss the nuances and just throw out random quotes as “Kierkegaard” quotes.

[@tbillyjoeroth]

kinda like "Bible" and "Jesus" quotes, and as a result the "right interpretation" has caused war, strife and thousands of various denominations to spring up on every corner.

[@gustavoperezg.3582]

Which book should i start with? Really interesting video.

[@gabeguerrero7865]

"Fear and Trembling" is a good place to start. "Sickness Unto Death" is dense but good as well. Howard V Hong, the most prolific translator of Kierkegaard, edited an anthology of Kierkegaard's works. I haven't read it, but I can recommend it on his name alone.

[@gustavoperezg.3582]

@@gabeguerrero7865 Thanks Gabe!

[@SaintNektarios]

It depends on what you are interested in. Most people will recommend Fear and Trembling and Sickness Unto Death. If you have more interest in Christianity, then I highly recommend reading Provocations: Spiritual Writings of Kierkegaard. It is an accessible book that has religious themed excerpts chosen from Kierkegaard's numerous books. It is a great way to get into his thinking through small parts of various works. Trainings in Christianity is another one I highly recommend.

[@LinhHLe]

good

[@phoenixkennedy8363]

Pns p. 189 “bliss awaits those who can possibly make it through the tragedy of what has happened to Christ in the Church.” Ws p. 64 “As I now see it Christianity has perpetuated a shortsighted view of Christ and, consequently, a shortsighted view of the rest of us. Christ’s passage was the revelation of the passage of every human being, and any misreading of him is a misreading of the whole of humanity. Investigating Christ’s human experiences in terms of consciousness or self opens up a whole new dimension of his Truth and revelation, and not only his, but our own and that of the whole of creation.” Rc p. 282 “The mind can find no definitive satisfaction or fulfillment with mere concepts and hearsay. What man is seeking is the living experiential reality of the Truth, his own immediate experience of this truth. Until he does, he will go right on questioning and being dissatisfied. Even if man knew the truth, he could never be fulfilled by merely ‘believing’ it. He is only fulfilled by experientially living it - knowing it firsthand.” Ws p. 107 “To say that Christ’s self or consciousness was eternal gives an entirely different picture and meaning to Christ than if we say his self or consciousness was not eternal…I think the West will come upon its own set of problems when it faces the impermanence of Christ’s self or consciousness, but, at the same time, this will reveal an entirely new dimension of Christ’s revelation - of this I am certain.” Ws p. 156 “But who can understand death and resurrection coming after a life of union and oneness with God? Who can understand the true nature of this death and what the resurrection reveals of Christ’s divine nature? Because of this mystery I regard Christianity as the most difficult and mystical of all religions; Christ is the most unbelievable and unknown Truth there is - and the most difficult of all Truths.” Rc p. 78 “Sometimes the impression is given that Christianity has a monopoly on forgiveness, salvation, savior, eternal life, God’s Spirit, grace, and so on, when, in fact, Christianity took all this straight from Judaism! The revelation of ‘Christ’ had nothing to do with any of this and changed none of it.” Rc p. 83 “Basically, there is no such thing as ‘Christian mysticism’ because Christianity - transformation into Christ - is the essence of mysticism.” Rc p. 140 “To think the anthropomorphic biblical interpretation of God ‘generating’ or ‘begetting’ an Uncreated ‘Son’ could have justified a transition in the Church’s whole understanding of the Trinity and Christ, can only be put down as the most flagrant wrong turn in the entire history of Christianity.” Rc p. 144 “There has to be God (Logos) before there is any incarnation of the Logos - before there is any Christ and before there is the created man Jesus. No question, the Creed must be totally restated, Christians today are not the semi-polytheists of yesterday.” Rc p. 157 “To my knowledge, however, the Greeks never agreed hypostasis meant persona - and indeed it does not. In time, however, in the West at least, hypostasis and person were used as synonymous terms. So due to this error, there occurred another switch from the original hypostasis to person - a monumental wrong turn as regards a true understanding of the Trinity and Christ.” Rc p. 170 “Like the fathers, Christians would be horrified to think they were polytheists or believed in three gods. But this is why the Trinity is kept at a distance, declared a ‘mystery’ incapable of the human mind to grasp. This is also why the Trinity means relatively nothing to the average Christian and plays no part in his spiritual life.” Rc p. 201 “Sometimes we wonder how Western civilization ever became so self-oriented compared to other civilizations that were more oriented to the benefit of everyone over their individual selves. Well, who invented the individual and particular ‘person’ or self, and who gave it ontological priority over everyman’s common human nature? Christianity!” Rc p. 242 “What few people realize, however, is that the official Church or Christian language is totally premised on this use of idioms instead of on the truth of Christ.” Rc p. 248 “No question, the C of P is the most deceiving ruse in all of Christian history a ruse responsible for totally wrong views of Christ, the Trinity and the man Jesus.” Rc p. 249 “Yet the more divine one makes the Logos’ human nature, the more Christ fades from the picture and the more Christianity deteriorates to a Jesus-cult.” Rc p. 257 “But who knows what people think they are praying to or worshiping? We can probably say for certain they are not praying to the dual natures of Christ!” Rc p. 279 “Eliminate the term ‘person’, and how is Christ to be envisioned as a single being? Without theology’s absolute dependence on person as an individual being, its Christologies would go down like a row of dominoes.” Rc p. 291 “this is exactly what the Incarnation is telling us: not only is mankind not that bad, but rather, it is of greatest worth to God.” Rc p. 300 “Even the best of theologians are reluctant to admit any radical existential change in human nature - much less an ontological change. Instead, they assure us everyone will go on just the same - only better, of course.” Rc p. 318 “The day Christianity lost this understanding of deification as the way man is saved, is the day it lost Christ.” Rc p. 323 “That down the road, Christianity was turned into the narrow, naïve and childish view we have today - i.e., only the man Jesus is Christ, only Jesus could ever be eternally one with God - is the inevitable loss of the whole revelation of the Incarnation, and, consequently, of Christ and Christianity…Christianity’s exclusive, boxed-in view of Jesus and Christ, not only aborts man’s spiritual journey, but will be its own undoing - why? Simply because it is not the Truth of ‘Christ’.” Rc p. 335 “To say Christian theology is ‘complicated’ is the understatement of all time. It is an unadulterated mess. It so defies common logic as to require man to forfeit his intellectual integrity in order to ‘believe’.” Rc p. 465 “What is unfortunate, however, is those who write the history of the early development of Christian thought and doctrine, consistently rely on the present-day Aristotelian rendition of it. It could be said this is a deliberate attempt to eliminate any possible ‘Platonic’ understanding of Christ as a universal in order to make Christ solely one particular man - Jesus, of course.” Rc p. 486 “Loss of self is the very foundation of Christianity.” Ecc p. 82 “The primary purpose of my writing, however, was less the subject of no-self than to put into the field of Mystical Theology a whole stage of the spiritual journey presently missing.”

[@sb4040]

That was easy to decipher. wow

[@jacques9515]

Quite similar to Jesus's message to the Jews though not as potent. Some things I am confused on though, it seems like he implies it's impossible to believe Christianity on a strictly logical basis which I do not believe to be true after looking into apologetics for a bit but you need some sort of faith beyond your comprehension... I don't necessarily understand why that has to be, maybe he's talking about just our limited human perceptions and how we can instrinically doubt events that don't line up with most of reality, like how the Jews doubted despite Jesus's miracles. I can see this but i have always doubted empiricism as the only infallible view for evidence seeing as we are all biased individuals in how we can interpret and sense things so it was easy for me to have faith in Jesus. It could also be like a St. Paul/Job situation where they believe with all their hearts yet are crippled by the world; this is cleared up by much of scripture though, which gets rid of many doubts in my mind. Idk maybe im just understanding him too pessimistically but i dont see belief like that, if someone could spell it out for a dummy like me itd be appreciated

[@invertedfreak]

Kierkegaard would jab hard at apologetics because it takes away the irony, paradox and absurdity that is required for self reflection. Logic of course settles us to some extent, but Kierkegaard does not want people to settle. He wants us to grapple with flawed elements of our human nature, like our ability to be certain about our beliefs. It is no lie at all that our confidence in knowledge can generate all sorts of deception and unchallenged biases

[@dougdoesit3013]

Well, it seems I got something totally different out of Kierkegaard than most of the rest of you. I saw him as preaching the gospel of 'self actualization/realization' through compulsive decisions. I call him the father of the neurotic faith. So go ahead and read Kierkegaard, newbies to philosophy, but know the take on him is not one sided.

[@chesswizard1019]

m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2056747914609035&id=1483072831976549bb

[@dougdoesit3013]

Sorry Chesswizard101, I don't have facebook and only do English.

[@Joeonline26]

"Go ahead and read Kierkegaard, newbies to philosophy"- You can't be serious. I've never heard such pseudo-intellectual comments in my life. Why are you trying to paint yourself as some sort of expert? You've actually demonstrated the opposite. Self actualization is a technical term and differs significantly from Kierkegaard's thoughts on subjectivity and his concept of a 'defining commitment'. He also didn't advocate a life of 'compulsive decisions', nor was he a father of any kind of 'neurotic faith''. If yout had read and understood Kierkegaard you would know this. You've tried to paint yourself as some sort of intellectual authority who can dispense with Kierkegaard in a single KZbin comment, but you've actually done the opposite. Congratulations.

[@Joeonline26]

@The Sight of Sound I'm not sure what you're saying. From what I can make out you're essentially saying 'faith has to be rash actions otherwise its not faith'. Is this your personal thoughts on faith? Or your understanding of Kierkegaard on faith?