Two Discourses of God and Man

by Søren Kierkegaard

republication of the 1st edition of David F. Swenson's translation of Two Discourses of God and Man, as originally published by Burgess Publishing Company in 1938.

Genres: Philosophy

101 pages, ebook

First published January 1, 1843

About the author

Søren Aabye Kierkegaard was a prolific 19th century Danish philosopher and theologian. Kierkegaard strongly criticised both the Hegelianism of his time and what he saw as the empty formalities of the Church of Denmark. Much of his work deals with religious themes such as faith in God, the institution of the Christian Church, Christian ethics and theology, and the emotions and feelings of individuals when faced with life choices. His early work was written under various pseudonyms who present their own distinctive viewpoints in a complex dialogue.

Kierkegaard left the task of discovering the meaning of his works to the reader, because "the task must be made difficult, for only the difficult inspires the noble-hearted". Scholars have interpreted Kierkegaard variously as an existentialist, neo-orthodoxist, postmodernist, humanist, and individualist.

Crossing the boundaries of philosophy, theology, psychology, and literature, he is an influential figure in contemporary thought.

Reviews

[Angus Mcfarlane · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was too much for me. With the reputation as one of the most profound Christian and existential thinkers, reading something by Kierkegaard had been on my list for a while. Two short discourses seemed like an easy introduction, but I was quickly relieved of this assumption. It is dense writing, further removed from my access by the nuances of the time and spiritual context.

Somewhere amidst the slow journey through this read the following stood out to me:
- the inability to recognise an inward struggle is essentially self deception
- Worship is not necessarily an indication of closeness but of seeking God, and best accomplished through weakness not strength
- The modernist approach to proving God may inhibit the ability to actually find or experience God, since the process places one outside
- It is not the increase of guilt, but the apprehension of it that increases awareness of God (and grace?)
- We (inevitably?) lose the uncompromising zeal for truth we begin life with
- spiritual thought is only appropriated in reality through action
So there is some good stuff in this.

The perspective of Kierkegaard as a thinker but not a theologian or preacher is interesting. William Barclay echoes the need for such in the church - to have a spirit of wisdom the church needs Christians willing to think. Ironically, it seems that for many wishing to encourage a greater presence of the spirit, thinking is often denigrated as the domain of the critic, the Pharisee or the stubborn. I suspect he won't be making a revival anytime soon for the numerous reasons mentioned, but there is plenty to learn assuming a further layer of translation is provided.

[Weston Sitton · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favorite part of this book is when kierky said “it’s kierken time” and kierked out.

[Uğur · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whichever work of Kierkegaard I have read (if I am not mistaken, this was his eleventh book), I see in it the continuity of Spinoza and Nietzsche. The situation has not changed much in this work either.

By dealing with the phenomena of anxiety, death and religion with faith, thought, correct knowledge and true principles, he has revealed the human-God relationship in a realistic way by extracting it from many memorizations. The essence of Kierkegaard's philosophy is that every experience is subjective. And this is the tragedy itself. Therefore, although a person can tell his own tragedy, he cannot convey it to the other person as it is. Religion also remained private to a person at such an exclusive point, and thus it was protected from influences such as hypocrisy and ostentation. Similarly, a religion that had emerged from subjectivity encountered anti-thesis rhetoric in every field, and religious people were responsible for this. At this point, Kierkegaard has isolated religion from the intense attack of reason and anti-theses by confining religion to subjectivity. He has acquired a thought practice that clearly distinguishes reason and religion from each other. We see this isolation in this work. Otherwise, he reveals that when we try to understand and explain religion by reasoning, we turn it into scientific knowledge, and since the inaccuracy of every scientific knowledge can be proven, this will be religious corruption. At this point, the phenomenon of faith occupies an important place in Kierkegaard, and he sees that a person has performed his actions of his own volition as the most important characteristic of faith. The real believer of the person who takes responsibility upon himself, the person who faces his own mistakes and sufferings without hiding in society, reaches the ideal human point. In this sense, it is impossible not to get an intense Nietzsche taste. Of course, although he has a very far-fetched approach to religion from Nietzsche, there is a close connection between his identification of faith with experiencing tragedy.

You searched for the biggest burden, you found yourself!

[Youceff Kabal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really profound writing on the Christian experience. I came across it at the perfect moment in my life. I think only through hands on experience of despair, and salvation through the Grace of Christ, can one truly understand the topic at hand, and appreciate the magnitude of Kierkegaard’s writing here. To not only have gone through it himself, but to be able to so eloquently put it into words, is a remarkable achievement in and of itself.

There’s a reason Kierkegaard is so popular, but I truly believe only the elect of Christ, that is, his sheep, will truly be able to understand why. His devotion to God is quasi-unparalleled for his time. And even for our time. It is a truly remarkable book, short enough for anyone who has answered the call of Christ to digest and not be encumbered by.

[Ricky Bosso · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kierkegaard was a beautiful writer. However, I’ll likely need to either re-read this particular work, or find better understanding with some of his finer points by reading more of him in general.

In any case, this was a fascinating and moving work of Kierkegaard’s to start with.

[Liviu · Rating 3 out of 5]

“[…]but what is his weapon? It is the weapon of the impotent: prayer; and he does not know what will happen even at the moment when his last words have already reached heaven. He merely believes that whatever happens it will be for the best.“

[Adam · Rating 1 out of 5]

Theistic ramblings which further confused me about how any Christian could see themselves as an existentialist.

[Andy Mladenov]

difficult to read

[Woodie Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting examination of the relation of sin, man, and God.

[Jacob Shoup · Rating 4 out of 5]

Of the two, the second discourse is better. The only reason this has four instead of five stars from me is that it is very heady, and I'm sure I misunderstood many of the points the author was trying to make.

Man's need for God Constitutes His Highest Perfection.

When I first read the title of that discourse, I had to reread it several times for it to sink in that not only is the divine my deepest need, but in acknowledging and leaning into that need I allow God to grow me into my most perfect identity which is both His obedient child and more than a conqueror over the forces of this earth. Here are a few images from this text worth remembering: (1) Prayer is the weapon of the powerless and futile. Even the revered Moses who performs many miracles by God's hand know he has no real power or understanding. And when his followers ask him to strike the rock with his staff to make it produce water, he tells them this may work or it may not! then makes his prayer and sees what happens. And (2) when we look upon someone who is desolate and poor, we say as a condolence they must rely on the grace of God, which in reality is a richer and more abundant gift than the most wealthy man on earth can possess. Kierkegaard flips this scenario back on its head where it should be.

What it Means to Seek God (On the Occasion of a Confessional Service)

This is the cross section between philosophy, theology and Lovecraftian horror and I am all about it! It has a really edifying section where it described my prayer life with too much accuracy. There's a brief lament on what is lost when we abandon the foibles of our youth in favor of practical participation in everyday life. But the crux of the discourse is that actually placing ourselves in a state of examining our past deeds before the Almighty is a mind-breaking endeavor that we either avoid and fail to grow, or that we weather step by careful step through our whole lives, and upon emerging receive the long foreseen incomparable pleasure of forgiveness.

The silence of the dirty servant waiting for the king to enter the room. The awe of a whale breaching just above you. The storm that the captain has prepared for his whole life, but knows not what he will do when he enters it. Ahhh! Read it!