Editing Søren Kierkegaard (section)

===Early 20th-century reception===
[[File:Soren Kierkegaard by George Brandes 1879 German edition.jpg|thumb|1879 German edition of Brandes' biography about Søren Kierkegaard]]
The first academic to draw attention to Kierkegaard was fellow Dane [[Georg Brandes]], who published in German as well as Danish. Brandes gave the first formal lectures on Kierkegaard in Copenhagen and helped bring him to the attention of the European intellectual community.{{sfn|Hall|1983}} Brandes published the first book on Kierkegaard's philosophy and life, {{lang|de|Søren Kierkegaard, ein literarisches Charakterbild}} (1879)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/srenkierkegaard00brangoog |title=Sören Kierkegaard, ein literarisches Charakterbild |year=1879 |access-date=17 July 2013}}</ref> which Adolf Hult said was a "misconstruction" of Kierkegaard's work and "falls far short of the truth".<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/102683527|title=Soren Kierkegaard in his life and literature|first=Adolf|last=Hult|date=1 August 1906|publisher=[s.l.|via=Hathi Trust}}</ref> Brandes compared him to [[Hegel]] and [[Tycho Brahe]] in ''Reminiscences of my Childhood and Youth''<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/reminiscencesmy00brangoog#page/n110/mode/1up ''Reminiscences of my childhood and youth'' (1906)], pp. 98–108, 220</ref> (1906). Brandes also discussed the ''Corsair Affair'' in the same book.<ref>George Brandes, ''Recollections of My Childhood and Youth'' (1906) p. 214.</ref> Brandes opposed Kierkegaard's ideas in the 1911 edition of the ''Britannica''.<ref>{{cite EB1911|wstitle=Kierkegaard, Sören Aaby}}</ref><ref>''Reminiscences of My Childhood and Youth'' by George Brandes, September 1906, p.&nbsp;108</ref> Brandes compared Kierkegaard to [[Friedrich Nietzsche]] as well.<ref>''Selected Letters of Friedrich Nietzsche'' 1st ed. edited, with a preface by [[Oscar Levy]]; authorized translation by Anthony M. Ludovici Published 1921 by Doubleday, Page & Co {{cite web |url=https://archive.org/stream/selectedletterso00nietuoft#page/226/mode/2up/search/brandes |title=Selected letters of Friedrich Nietzsche |publisher=Garden City, N.Y.; Toronto : Doubleday, Page & Co |year=1921 }}</ref> He also mentioned Kierkegaard extensively in volume 2 of his 6 volume work, ''Main Currents in Nineteenth Century Literature'' (1872 in German and Danish, 1906 English).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/stream/essaysonscandina00boye#page/202/mode/2up|title=Essays on Scandinavian literature|access-date=27 March 2015|year=1895}}</ref><ref>''Main Currents in Nineteenth, Century Literature Vol. 2'' Georg Brandes, 1906 Introduction p. 11.</ref>

Swedish author Waldemar Rudin published ''Sören Kierkegaards person och författarskap – ett försök'' in 1880.<ref>[https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100432780 Waldemar Rudin ''Sören Kierkegaards person och författarskap: ett försök''] HathiTrust Digital Library</ref> During the 1890s, Japanese philosophers began disseminating the works of Kierkegaard.{{sfn|Masugata|1999}} [[Tetsuro Watsuji]] was one of the first philosophers outside of Scandinavia to write an introduction on his philosophy, in 1915.

[[File:William James in 1890s.jpg|thumb|upright|William James (1890s)]] [[Harald Høffding]]'s work was greatly influenced by Kierkegaard, having himself stated that Kierkegaard's thought "has pursued me from my youth, [and] determined the direction of my life."<ref>Quoted by Carl Henrik Koch in {{harvnb|Stewart|2012b|loc="Harald Høffding: The Respectful Critic", [https://books.google.com/books?id=XjV8EgfqBtsC&pg=PA267 p. 267]}}</ref> Høffding was a friend of the American philosopher [[William James]], and although James had not read Kierkegaard's works, as they were not yet translated into English, he attended the lectures about Kierkegaard by Høffding and agreed with much of those lectures. James' favorite quote from Kierkegaard came from Høffding: "We live forwards but we understand backwards".<ref>J. Michael Tilley in {{harvnb|Stewart|2012c|loc="William James: Living Forward and the Development of Radical Empiricism", [https://books.google.com/books?id=G52ZFoQav9MC&pg=PA87 p. 87]}}</ref>

[[Friedrich von Hügel]] wrote about Kierkegaard in 1913, saying: "Kierkegaard, the deep, melancholy, strenuous, utterly uncompromising Danish religionist, is a spiritual brother of the great Frenchman, [[Blaise Pascal]], and of the striking English [[Tractarian movement|Tractarian]], [[Hurrell Froude]], who died young and still full of crudity, yet left an abiding mark upon all who knew him well."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/eternallifestudy00hg |title=Eternal Life: a study of its implications and applications (1913), Friedrich von Hügel, pp. 260–261 |access-date=17 July 2013}}</ref>

[[John George Robertson]] wrote an article called Søren Kierkegaard in 1914: "Notwithstanding the fact that during the last quarter of a century, we have devoted considerable attention to the literatures of the North, the thinker and man of letters whose name stands at the head of the present article is but little known to the English-speaking world ... Kierkegaard, the writer who holds the indispensable key to the intellectual life of Scandinavia, to whom Denmark in particular looks up as her most original man of genius in the nineteenth century, we have wholly overlooked."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://archive.org/details/modernlanguagere09modeuoft|title=The Modern language review|year=1905 |publisher=[Belfast, etc.] Modern Humanities Research Association [etc.]|via=Internet Archive}}</ref> Robertson wrote previously in [[Cosmopolis: A Literary Review|''Cosmopolis'']] (1898) about Kierkegaard and Nietzsche.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.31175012025584;view=1up;seq=39|title=Cosmopolis. no.34.|website=HathiTrust|pages=12 v}}</ref> [[Theodor Haecker]], based in Munich, published an essay in 1913 titled ''Kierkegaard and the Philosophy of Inwardness'', and [[David F. Swenson]]'s treatment of Kierkegaard's life and works was published as an issue of [[Scandinavian Studies (journal)|''Scandinavian Studies and Notes'']] in 1920.<ref>Alexander Dru in {{harvnb|Haecker|1950|loc="Introduction", pp. xii–xiii}}</ref>{{sfn|Swenson|1920}} Swenson stated: "It would be interesting to speculate upon the reputation that Kierkegaard might have attained, and the extent of the influence he might have exerted, if he had written in one of the major European languages, instead of in the tongue of one of the smallest countries in the world."{{sfn|Swenson|1920|p=41}}

Austrian psychologist [[Wilhelm Stekel]] (1868–1940) referred to Kierkegaard as the "fanatical follower of Don Juan, himself the philosopher of [[Don Juanism]]" in his book ''Disguises of Love''.<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015002965864;view=1up;seq=65|title=Disguises of love; psycho-analytical sketches. By W. Stekel. ... – Full View &#124; HathiTrust Digital Library &#124; HathiTrust Digital Library|year=1922|publisher=New York}}</ref> German psychiatrist and philosopher [[Karl Jaspers]] (1883–1969) stated he had been reading Kierkegaard since 1914 and compared Kierkegaard's writings with Hegel's ''[[Phenomenology of Mind]]'' and the writings of Nietzsche. Jaspers saw Kierkegaard as a champion of Christianity and Nietzsche as a champion for atheism.<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/philsophyofkarlj033381mbp#page/n7/mode/2up ''The Philosophy Of Karl Jaspers''] edited by [[Paul Arthur Schilpp]] 1957 p. 26</ref> Later, in 1935, Jaspers emphasized Kierkegaard's (and Nietzsche's) continuing importance for modern philosophy.{{sfn|Jaspers|1935}}{{Page needed|date=November 2024}}

====German and English translators of Kierkegaard's works====
[[File:Heikki-Waris-Douglas-Steere.jpg|thumb|Douglas V. Steere (right) with the Finnish sociologist Heikki Waris in the 1950s]]
The first translation into German of Kierkegaard's work appeared in 1861, but it was Albert Bärthold who undertook the first substantial program of translating Kierkegaard into German, beginning in 1873.{{sfn|Lowrie|1962|p=4}}<ref>Heiko Schulz in {{harvnb|Stewart|2009|loc="Germany and Austria; A Modest Head Start: The German Reception of Kierkegaard", pp. 313–316}}</ref> Hermann Gottsche published Kierkegaard's Journals in 1905. It had taken academics 50 years to arrange his journals.<ref>Buch des Richters: Seine Tagebücher 1833–1855, (8 volumes) Hermann Gottsched (1905) the link is below in web</ref> Kierkegaard's main works were translated into German by [[Christoph Schrempf]] from 1909 onwards.{{sfn|Bösl|1997|p=12}} [[Emmanuel Hirsch]] released a German edition of Kierkegaard's collected works from 1950 onwards.{{sfn|Bösl|1997|p=12}} Both Harald Hoffding's and Schrempf's books about Kierkegaard were reviewed in 1892.<ref>''The Philosophical Review'', Volume I, Ginn and Company 1892 pp. 282–283</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/stream/philosophicalrev08cornuoft#page/282/mode/1up |title=The Philosophical Review |access-date=17 July 2013|publisher=Ithaca [etc.] Cornell University Press [etc.] }}</ref>

[[Lee M. Hollander]], a scholar of [[Germanic philology]] at the [[University of Texas at Austin]], published the first translation of Kierkegaard into English in 1923, though the publication received little attention.{{sfn|Schulz-Behrend|Lehmann|Miller|Willson|1976|p=2}} In the 1930s, further English translations by [[Douglas V. Steere]], [[David F. Swenson]], [[Walter Lowrie (author)|Walter Lowrie]], and Alexander Dru appeared, the last two translators working under the efforts of [[Oxford University Press]] editor [[Charles Williams (British writer)|Charles Williams]], one of the members of [[the Inklings]].{{sfn|Poole|1998|pp=57–58}}<ref>See Michael J. Paulus, Jr. From A Publisher's Point of View: Charles Williams's Role in Publishing Kierkegaard in English – online</ref> [[Thomas Henry Croxall]], another early translator, Lowrie, and Dru all hoped that people would not just read about Kierkegaard but would actually read his works.<ref>Kierkegaard studies, with special reference to (a) the Bible (b) our own age. Thomas Henry Croxall, 1948, pp. 16–18.</ref> From the 1960s to the 1990s, Howard V. Hong and Edna H. Hong translated his works more than once.<ref name=stolaf>[http://www.stolaf.edu/collections/kierkegaard/about/hongs.html "Howard and Edna Hong"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120227232541/http://www.stolaf.edu/collections/kierkegaard/about/hongs.html |date=27 February 2012 }}. Howard V. and Edna H. Hong Kierkegaard Library. St. Olaf College. Retrieved 11 March 2012.</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=http://www.nlx.com/collections/73|title=Søren Kierkegaard's Journals and Papers|isbn=978-1-57085-239-8|editor-last=Hong|editor-first=Howard V.|language=en|translator-last=Hong|url-access=subscription|editor-last2=Edna H.|editor-first2=Hong|translator-last2=Hong|via=Intelex Past Masters Online Catalogue}}</ref> The first volume of their first version of the ''Journals and Papers'' (Indiana, 1967–1978) won the 1968 [[National Book Award]] for [[List of winners of the National Book Award#Translation|Translation]].<ref name=stolaf/><ref name=nba1968>
[https://www.nationalbook.org/awards-prizes/national-book-awards-1968 "National Book Awards – 1968"]. [[National Book Foundation]]. Retrieved 11 March 2012.</ref> They both dedicated their lives to the study of Søren Kierkegaard and his works, which are maintained at the [[Howard V. and Edna H. Hong Kierkegaard Library]].<ref>See this video about the mission and history of the [https://vimeo.com/674216 Søren Kierkegaard research library at St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN]</ref> [[Alastair Hannay]] translated some of Kierkegaard's works for [[Penguin Classics]], starting in 1985 with ''[[Fear and Trembling]]''.{{sfn|Poole|1998|pp=65–66}}<ref>{{harvnb|Stewart|2015|p=3}}: "[Hannay's] popular translations of Kierkegaard's primary texts in the Penguin Classics series also opened up the Dane's thinking for generations of students."</ref>

====Kierkegaard's influence on Karl Barth's early theology====
[[File:Karl Barth Briefmarke.jpg|thumb|left|[[Karl Barth]] commemorative stamp]]

Kierkegaard's influence on [[Karl Barth]]'s early theology is evident in ''[[The Epistle to the Romans (Barth)|The Epistle to the Romans]]'' 1918, 1921, 1933. <blockquote>"If I have a system it is limited to a recognition of what Kierkegaard called the 'infinite qualitative distinction' and to my regarding this as possessing negative as well as positive significance: 'God is in heaven. And thou art on earth.' The relation between such a God and such a man, and the relation between such a man and such a God, is for me the theme of the Bible and the essence of philosophy. Philosophers name this KRISIS of human perception—the Prime Cause: the Bible holds at the same cross-roads-the figure of Jesus Christ. When I am faced by such a document as the Epistle of Paul to the Romans, I embark on its interpretation on the assumption that he is confronted with the same unmistakable and unmeasurable significance of that relation as I myself am confronted with, and that it is this situation which moulds his thought and its expression". Karl Barth, ''The Epistle to the Romans'' 1919 Preface (originally published in German)</blockquote> Barth read at least three volumes of Kierkegaard's works: ''[[Practice in Christianity]]'', ''The Moment'', and an ''Anthology'' from his journals and diaries. Almost all key terms from Kierkegaard which had an important role in ''The Epistle to the Romans'' can be found in ''Practice in Christianity''. The concept of the indirect communication, the paradox, and the moment of ''Practice in Christianity'', in particular, confirmed and sharpened Barth's ideas on contemporary Christianity and the Christian life.{{Blockquote|It was in his study of Paul that he found his first peace of mind. He was fascinated by the revelation of the power of the Holy Spirit when it once touched a man; at the completeness with which it overwhelms and keeps its chosen ones loyal. He conceived of Paul as one upon whom God had laid His hand' Barth writes: "The man Paul evidently sees and hears something which is above everything, which is absolutely beyond the range of my observation and measure of my thought." Following this observation Barth too became a "listener" and in that moment was born the "Theology of Crisis". Besides affecting Barth deeply, the philosophy of Kierkegaard has found voice in the works of Ibsen, Unamuno, and Heidegger, and its sphere of influence seems to be growing in ever widening circles. The principle contribution of Kierkegaard to Barth is the dualism of time and eternity which Kierkegaard phrases: "The infinite qualitative difference between time and eternity."<ref>[https://archive.org/details/thereligiouseduc00king Kingman, G. David, ''The Religious Educational Values in Karl Barth's Teachings''] 1934 pp. 15–17</ref>}}

[[Wilhelm Pauck]] wrote in 1931 (''Karl Barth Prophet of a New Christianity'') that Kierkegaard's use of the Latin phrase ''Finitum Non Capax Infiniti'' (the finite does not (or cannot) comprehend the infinite) summed up Barth's system.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/karlbarthprophet012001mbp|title=Karl Barth Prophet of a New Christianity|work=Internet Archive|access-date=27 March 2015}}</ref> David G. Kingman and Adolph Keller each discussed Barth's relationship to Kierkegaard in their books, ''The Religious Educational Values in Karl Barth's Teachings'' (1934) and ''Karl Barth and Christian Unity'' (1933). Keller notes the splits that happen when a new teaching is introduced and some assume a higher knowledge from a higher source than others.
Students of Kierkegaard became a "group of dissatisfied, excited radicals" when under Barthianism. Eduard Geismar (1871–1939), who gave ''Lectures on Kierkegaard'' in March 1936, was not radical enough for them. Barthianism was opposed to the objective treatment of religious questions and to the sovereignty of man in the existential meeting with the transcendent God. But just as students of Hegel broke off into [[Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel#"Right" vs. "Left" Hegelianism|Right and Left]], so did the German followers of Barth.  {{Blockquote|The inward distress, the tension and the preparation of Kierkegaard made them receptive to the new. A magazine entitled the ''Tidenverv'' (''The Turn of the Times''), has been their journal since 1926. Especially the Student Christian Movement became the port of invasion for the new thought. But this invasion has been split completely into two camps which vehemently attack each other. Indictment was launched against the old theology. The quiet work of the church was scorned as secularization of the message or as emotional smugness, which had found a place in Home Missions despite all its call to repentance.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/stream/karlbarthandchri008799mbp#page/n147/mode/2up|title=Karl Barth And Christian Unity The Influence of the Barthian Movement Upon The Churches of the World|access-date=27 March 2015}}</ref>}}

Barth endorses the main theme from Kierkegaard but also reorganizes the scheme and transforms the details. He expands the theory of indirect communication to the field of Christian ethics; he applies the concept of unrecognizability to the Christian life. He coins the concept of the "paradox of faith" since the form of faith entails a contradictory encounter of God and human beings. He also portrayed the contemporaneity of the moment when in crisis a human being desperately perceives the contemporaneity of Christ. In regard to the concept of indirect communication, the paradox, and the moment, the Kierkegaard of the early Barth is a productive catalyst.<ref>{{cite journal | last=Woo | first=B. Hoon | title= Kierkegaard's Influence on Karl Barth's Early Theology | journal= Journal of Christian Philosophy | year=2014 | volume=18 | url=https://www.academia.edu/6894715 | pages=197–245}}</ref>