Kierkegaard's The Sickness Unto Death
A Critical Guide

Presents new approaches to one of Kierkegaard's most important texts, shedding light on themes such as selfhood, despair, and sin.

Jeffrey Hanson (Edited by), Sharon Krishek (Edited by)

9781108835374, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 21 July 2022

320 pages
23.5 x 15.8 x 1.9 cm, 0.55 kg

The Sickness unto Death (1849) is commonly regarded as one of Kierkegaard's most important works – but also as one of his most difficult texts to understand. It is a meditation on Christian existentialist themes including sin, despair, religious faith and its redemptive power, and the relation and difference between physical and spiritual death. This volume of new essays guides readers through the philosophical and theological significance of the work, while clarifying the complicated ideas that Kierkegaard develops. Some of the essays focus closely on particular themes, others attempt to elucidate the text as a whole, and yet others examine it in relation to other philosophical views. Bringing together these diverse approaches, the volume offers a comprehensive understanding of this pivotal work. It will be of interest to those studying Kierkegaard as well as existentialism, religious philosophy, and moral psychology.

Introduction: Jeffrey Hanson and Sharon Krishek
1. Kierkegaard's place of rest George Pattison
2. Publishing the Sickness unto Death: A Lesson in Double-Mindedness Clare Carlisle
3. Kierkegaard on the Self and the modern debate on selfhood Anthony Rudd
4. From here to eternity: Soteriological selves and time Patrick Stokes
5. Kierkegaard's metaphysics of the self Eleanor Helms
6. The experience of possibility (and of its absence): The metaphysics of moods in Kierkegaard's phenomenological psychology Rick Anthony Furtak
7. Sin, Despair, and the self Roe Fremstedal
8. Sin and virtues Robert C. Roberts
9. Despair as sin: The Christian and the Socratic Merold Westphal
10. Fastening the end and knotting the thread: Beginning where paganism ends by means of paradox Sylvia Walsh
11. Despair the disease and faith the therapeutic cure Jeffrey Hanson
12. The long journey to oneself: The existential import of The Sickness unto Death Sharon Krishek
13. Accountability to God in The Sickness unto Death: Kierkegaard's relational understanding of the human self C. Stephen Evans.

Subject Areas: Theology [HRLB], Western philosophy: c 1600 to c 1900 [HPCD], Philosophy [HP]