Kierkegaard's Ethic of Love: Divine Commands and Moral Obligations

by C. Stephen Evans

C. Stephen Evans explains and defends Kierkegaard's account of moral obligations as rooted in God's commands, the fundamental command being `You shall love your neighbour as yourself'. The work will be of interest not only to those interested in Kierkegaard, but also to those interested in the relation between ethics and religion, especially questions about whether morality can or must have a religious foundation. As well as providing a comprehensive reading of Kierkegaard as an ethical thinker, Evans puts him into conversation with contemporary moral theorists. Kierkegaard's divine command theory is shown to be an account that safeguards human flourishing, as well as protecting the proper relations between religion and state in a pluralistic society.

380 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

C. Stephen Evans (b. Atlanta , Georgia) is an American historian and philosopher, he is one of the United States' leading experts on Søren Kierkegaard having published six books on Kierkegaard over 25 years. He is currently Distinguished Professor of Philosophy and Humanities at Baylor University. He holds a B.A. with High Honors (philosophy), from Wheaton College, an M.Phil. (philosophy) from Yale University, and a Ph.D. (philosophy) from Yale University.

He has won numerous awards, and reviews manuscripts for several university presses, including Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, Princeton University Press, as well as Harper and Rowe. He does the same for several academic journals. He was curator of the Howard V. and Edna H. Hong Kierkegaard Library. He has organized several major conferences. He served five years on the the editorial board for Kierkegaard Monographs and for the International Kierkegaard Commentary Series. He is a past president of the Society of Christian Philosophers and the Søren Kierkegaard Society.

Reviews

[Donald · Rating 5 out of 5]

Evans is a first-rate Kierkegaard scholar. He views WORKS OF LOVE as seminal in the corpus of Kierkegaard's authorship. This book took five years to write and forms his basis of Divine command theory of ethics.

Evans helped change my point of view on Kierkegaard; indeed, his position was that of an orthodox Christian theist rather than the stripped down existentialist found in Camus, Sartre, et al. Evans is one of his 21st century champions and deserves the recognition he currently receives.

I will comment more fully when I have completed the book.