Struggling with God : Kierkegaard and the temptation of spiritual trial

286 Pages·2013·1.298 MB·English

by  Podmore, Simon D

Struggling with God

Struggling with God
Kierkegaard and the Temptation
of Spiritual Trial
Simon D. Podmore
C
James Clarke & Co
In memory of Nöelle Mackie
and in gratitude to Cynthia Lund
James Clarke & Co
P.O. Box 60
Cambridge
CB1 2NT
United Kingdom
www.jamesclarke.co
[email protected]
ISBN: 978 0 227 17343 5
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A record is available from the British Library
Copyright © Simon D. Podmore, 2013
First Published, 2013
Cover illustration: photograph courtesy of Jeremy Haslan
© The estate of Sir Jacob Epstein, Tate Images 2013.
All rights reserved. No part of this edition may be reproduced, stored
electronically or in any retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or
by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording,
or otherwise, without prior written permission from the
Publisher ([email protected]).
Contents
Acknowledgements 7
Abbreviations 9
Introduction — Struggling with God:
Towards a Kierkegaardian Theology of Spiritual Trial 13
1. The Secret Struggle:
Lost in Translation 47
2. The Old Devotional Books:
Anfechtung in Tauler and the Theologia Deutsch 71
3. Melancholia Coram Deo:
Luther’s Theology of Anfechtung 100
4. God’s Fire in the Soul:
Anfechtung in Arndt and Boehme 127
5. Before God in Secret:
Spiritual Trial and Temptation in Kierkegaard I 154
6. The God-forsaken God:
Spiritual Trial and Temptation in Kierkegaard II 183
7. The Desire of Spirit:
Restlessness and the Transparency of Rest 215
8. The Temptation of Spiritual Trial 237
Bibliography 270
Index 286
Acknowledgements
Though Kierkegaard refers to the spiritual trials that haunt his own
struggles to write and publish, I am, by contrast, indebted to the
support and grace of many others who have sustained me in working
on this book. The first-fruits of my convictions concerning the under-
examined significance of Kierkegaard’s view of spiritual trial were
expressed in my Kierkegaard and the Self Before God: Anatomy of the
Abyss (2011) and a number of articles and papers. The opportunity
for more detailed research and reflection on this neglected topic was
realised in part by a Kierkegaard House Foundation Fellowship, by
the Gordon Milburn Junior Research Fellowship, and by a British
Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship, for which I will always be
thankful. I am also immensely grateful to the staff and students at the
Howard and Edna Hong Kierkegaard Library at St Olaf College, the
Søren Kierkegaard Research Centre in Copenhagen, the University of
Edinburgh, the University of Oxford, and Liverpool Hope University,
as well as members of the Søren Kierkegaard Society of the United
Kingdom. I have furthermore been blessed by many individuals,
including, but not limited to, the following: Katie Townend, Cathy
and Lucinda Townend, Katherine Tetlow, Cynthia Lund, Gordon
Marino, Howard and Edna Hong, Daphne Hampson, Murray Rae,
Alan Torrance, Leo Stan, Hugh Pyper, John Lippitt, Jon Stewart,
Claudia Welz, Pia Søltoft, Helle Møller Jensen, Joel Rasmussen,
Johannes Zachhuber, Hartmut von Sass, Paul Fiddes, Pamela Sue
Anderson, Peggy Morgan, Clare Carlisle, Chris Hamilton, Anthony
Rudd, Bob Perkins, Sylvia Walsh, Andrew Burgess, Merold Westphal,
Chris Barnett, Sean Turchin, Craig Hinkson, K. Jason Wardley, Joseph
Rivera, Chris Shaw, David Lappano, Victoria Davies, Geoff Dargan,
Patrick Sheil, Henry Hollanders, Louise Nelstrop, Andrew Weeks,
Duane Williams, Patrice Haynes, Jenny Daggers, Peter McGrail,
Andrew Cheatle, Steven Shakespeare, and George Pattison. I am also
grateful for the patience and investment of Philip Law and Adrian
Brink and all at James Clarke & Co. Ltd who have contributed to the
publication of this book. Special thanks go to Bethany Churchard for
her excellent work on the text and the cover.
8 Struggling with God
Perhaps above all, I acknowledge the disparity Kierkegaard’s lonely
lament over the silence concerning spiritual trial and the vast support
I have enjoyed in seeking to rehabilitate a Kierkegaardian theology
of spiritual trial for a contemporary audience. As I congregate with
many others to celebrate the bicentenary of Kierkegaard’s birth, I
hope that the irony of this does not become lost.
5 May 2013, Copenhagen
Abbreviations
Abbreviations for English Editions of Works by
Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855)
CA The Concept of Anxiety (Vigilius Haufniensis), ed. and trans.
Reidar Thomte in collaboration with Albert B. Anderson
(Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1980).
CD Christian Discourses: The Crisis and A Crisis in the Life of an
Actress, ed. and trans. Howard V. Hong and Edna H. Hong
(Bloomington and London: Indiana University Press, 1997).
CI The Concept of Irony: With Constant Reference to Socrates, ed.
and trans. Howard V. Hong and Edna H. Hong (Bloomington
and London: Indiana University Press, 1989).
CUP I-II Concluding Unscientific Postscript (Johannes Climacus), ed.
and trans. Howard V. Hong and Edna H. Hong (Bloomington
and London: Indiana University Press, 1992).
E/O I-II Either/Or, 2 vols (Judge William, ‘A’; ed. Victor Eremita), ed.
and trans. Howard V. Hong and Edna H. Hong (Princeton,
New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1987).
EUD Eighteen Upbuilding Discourses, ed. and trans. Howard V.
Hong and Edna H. Hong (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton
University Press, 1990).
FSE For Self-Examination in For Self-Examination and Judge For
Yourself!, ed. and trans. Howard V. Hong and Edna H. Hong
(Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1990).
FT Fear and Trembling (Johannes de silentio) in Fear and Trembling
and Repetition, ed. and trans. Howard V. Hong and Edna H.
Hong (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press,
1983).
JFY Judge for Yourself! in For Self-Examination and Judge For
Yourself!, ed. and trans. Howard V. Hong and Edna H. Hong
(Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1990).
10 Struggling with God
JP Søren Kierkegaard’s Journals and Papers, 7 Vols, ed. and trans.
Howard V. Hong and Edna H. Hong (Bloomington and
London: Indiana University Press, 1967-78), followed by
volume and entry number: e.g. JP 2:1383.
LW The Moment and Late Writings, 7 Vols, ed. and trans. Howard
V. Hong and Edna H. Hong (Bloomington and London:
Indiana University Press, 1967-78).
PC Practice in Christianity (Anti-Climacus; ed. Søren
Kierkegaard), ed. and trans. Howard V. Hong and Edna H.
Hong (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press,
1991).
PF Philosophical Fragments (Johannes Climacus), ed. and trans.
Howard V. Hong and Edna H. Hong (Princeton, New
Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1985).
PV The Point of View For My Work as an Author, ed. and trans.
Howard V. Hong and Edna H. Hong (Princeton, New
Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1998).
R Repetition (Constantin Constantius) in Fear and Trembling
and Repetition, ed. and trans. Howard V. Hong and Edna H.
Hong (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press,
1983).
SLW Stages on Life’s Way (William Afham, the Judge, Frater
Taciturnus, published by Hilarius Bookbinder), ed. and
trans. Howard V. Hong and Edna H. Hong (Princeton, New
Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1988).
SUD The Sickness unto Death (Anti-Climacus; ed. Søren
Kierkegaard), ed. and trans. Howard V. Hong and Edna H.
Hong (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press,
1983).
UDVS Upbuilding Discourses in Various Spirits, ed. and trans.
Howard V. Hong and Edna H. Hong (Princeton, New
Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1988).
WA Without Authority, ed. trans. Howard V. Hong and Edna H.
Hong (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press,
1995).
WL Works of Love, ed. and trans. Howard V. Hong and Edna H.
Hong (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press,
1995).