The second stage of Kierkegaardian scholarship in America

pp. 120-146

in: Harold Durfee, Foundational reflections, Berlin, Springer, 1987

Abstract

It is now some sixty years since the American "Dane," David Swenson, discovered the "Danish Socrates," Snren Kierkegaard. During the last twenty-five years Americans have had the opportunity of becoming well acquainted with Kierkegaardian reflection, both philosophical and theological. There has poured forth from the American presses not only the major works of this strange thinker, but also numerous attempts to present his life and the general tenor of his thought. Such attempts were both necessary and fruitful.¹ This first stage of scholarship, however, although much needed and frequently well done, was but a preliminary to the work which is now beginning to appear. Professor Lowrie confessed to his limitations at interpretation, and many other have intended no more than an introductory presentation of "Kierkegaard in English." Further work of this kind may still be needed to clarify scholarly issues of a biographical nature, and to present to a new age, in their terms, the general structure of Kierkegaardian thought. It is the thesis of this essay, however, that we have entered the preliminary stages in a more significant task, and that American students have started to move to a second stage in Kierkegaardian scholarship.