Kierkegaard: A Single Life

by Stephen Backhouse

Discover a new understanding of Kierkegaard’s thought and his life, a story filled with romance, betrayal, humor, and riots. Kierkegaard, like Einstein and Freud, is one of those geniuses whose ideas permeate the culture and shape our world even when relatively few people have read their works. That lack of familiarity with the real Kierkegaard is about to change. This lucid new biography by scholar Stephen Backhouse presents the genius as well as the acutely sensitive man behind the brilliant books. Scholarly and accessible, A Single Life introduces his many guises—the thinker, the lover, the recluse, the writer, the controversialist—in prose so compelling it reads like a novel. One chapter examines Kierkegaard’s influence on our greatest cultural icons—Kafka, Barth, Bonhoeffer, Camus, and Martin Luther King Jr., to name only a few. A useful appendix presents an overview of each of Kierkegaard’s works, for the scholar and lay reader alike.

Genres: Philosophy, Biography, History, Nonfiction, Audiobook, Theology, Christianity

304 pages, Paperback

Published August 9, 2016

About the author

Stephen Backhouse is the Lecturer in Social and Political Theology at St. Mellitus College, London. He has published a number of critically well-received books and articles on religion, history, and Kierkegaard, from the popular Compact Guide to Christian History (Lion Publishers) to the academic Kierkegaard’s Critique of Christian Nationalism (Oxford University Press).

Reviews

[Fergus, Weaver of Autistic Webs · Rating 4 out of 5]

WE HAVE TO EXPERIENCE ANOTHER KIND OF TIME.
- Eugene Peterson in The Pastor, his autobiography.

Back in the sixties, Soren Kierkegaard wasn’t the well-known trademark for honest candour he is today. And there was only ONE modern English Translation of any of his works widely available: that of Walter Lowrie.

Lowrie stood alone among American clerics in speaking out with Soren against the hypocrisy of the ‘comfortable’ churches.

The momentum has built up in his favour, of course, since then.

Nowadays organized religion attracts more negative than positive publicity. But, on the other hand, stripped-down worship with an acute sense of social responsibility has made inroads among youth and the less cozy-minded old timers.

We have GENTRIFIED our downtown churches just as we have gentrified our cities. Now the original impact of the Gospel in so many churches is almost irreparably dulled. It’s time to return to more uncompromising roots...

Many of us experience the game-changing climacteric of Coming of Age when we are young adults.

Many people do of course decide, as a result of it, to just relax and go with the flow. Others become Seekers in a world in which, suddenly, all bets are off - and some of the more fortunate among these often seek refuge in a credo with a more reassuring, but still wide-awake intent.

But a very few - though their legion of famous names will be well-known to you - decide to perch assiduously on that Razor’s Edge, that perspicacious all-encompassing point which Borges called the Aleph, so that this conflictual nascent experience may yield abundant fruit in their souls, and in others.

The Invisible Church, as they used to say. The Vanguard.

We have to experience another kind of time, as Eugene Peterson said when he retired. Without preconceptions. Without expectations. He says we can only expect the unexpected.

This is the Edge. Ordinary time no longer exists here.

It is now, never, and Always... Salvation Time. So thought Soren Kierkegaard.

You see, he knew from his Faith that there existed a way, a truth and a life, and he believed that promise sincerely.

But he knew our salvation has to be worked out with Fear and Trembling - utterly anew - at each uncertain moment in our uncertain life.

When I came into adulthood, I felt restricted in my Protestant mold. I know, that side of me still shows - because it was ingrained in me from infancy.

But my newfound Joy needed a Bigger Container. A container that would be one day brimming with Joy, after it had slowly cooked and tenderized all the infinitely tough facts of life as I saw them!

The world was not ready to give me that, and in fact wanted to sell me a package deal: “the metalled ways of Appetency.”

I refused. And so became a lifelong spiritual Quixote.

Until my old age, when at each new moment of seeking, God answers. This is Now. This is “quick now, here now, always.” The new.

Muted ever-changing Joy. In Him we are MORE than conquerors, for we have conquered OURSELVES.

For then, the truth of Kierkegaard, Camus and all the great folks who became the Conscience of our Age, was plainly evident. The Key was in lifelong Resistance and Rebellion against mediocrity. Ending - not surprisingly - in Peace and Equanimity.

For my “stubborn season had made (lifelong) stand.”

This can’t be captured, extended, photographed or recorded by the Machine. The Machine only thinks faster and faster, but is never eternally Off the Wall.

So Kierkegaard, with his rapier-edged natural intellect nurtured, and repelled by - that 19th century intellectual pacifier to so many - Hegel’s Phenomenology of Mind, in his own writing young set out to bring this endless dialectic HOME to the common man.

For Hegel presents us with abstract struggles with abstract resolutions. Not in peace: but in a cold, abstract remove from Life.

So Kierkegaard rejected that cold side of Hegel. And stressed Repetition - to use one of his favourite personal titles:

REPETITION of the endless aporia of the Absurd - AD INFINITUM. Absurdly.

But at the same time... ever variable.

Human, All too Human, in Nietszchean terms.

Absurd.

Deal with it, you metalled bits of mental appetency. That’s what Iraneus said to the Gnostics early On. The Machine is mental. We’re physical. The Machine never duplicates physicality.

It only leads us, unbeknownst and by subtle gradients, to the Beast. And once you’re there you’re trapped. Houdini me that, Gigabytes!

Like stepping on a bunion, over and over!

And the comfortable old timers HOWLED in outraged pain.

Now, here’s where it gets good... he used his own life experiences as grist for the mill of producing his masterpieces. For they were all portraits of a Dangling Man (to borrow Bellow’s title)...

Suspended in time, between pole and tropic
When the short day is brightest, between frost and fire...

Yes, Kierkegaard was Frost AND Fire. Frost of the barbs of intensely cold wit that flew from his pen, and the fire of a passion that was continuously unconsummated - buried in the lost love of the Girl he Left Behind - forever.

A Dangling Man for sure.

But there is wisdom in just hanging on.

“Help of the helpless, O Abide with Me...” and He will. He LOVES the helplessly Dangling Outsiders!

For He is ALWAYS there - no matter how immeasurably bad it all seems.

Lost? Anxious? Afraid?

Hang on to your Faith.

Kierkegaard was RIGHT.

“Purity of Heart IS to will one thing.“

Just hang on to your personal credo -

Throughout EVERY escalating new intensity of the Machine’s Howling Storm...

Forever.

[Castille · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the best biographies I've read. Oftentimes, biographies-- especially about historic intellectuals-- are drier than dry, but Backhouse is not merely a biographer but a storyteller. The first half, which tells Kierkegaard's life story, is told in a conversational manner, with all the same intrigue as a novel. The latter half was more factual, more along the lines of a traditional biography. Very much looking forward to this author's future endeavors.

[Scott Nickels · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sitting around at 2:00 AM in the morning, mid 1970's, and my wife-to-be giving me her most excited thoughts about Soren Kierkegaard. She had tripped across him as a Religion minor in college. And she was on fire for anything-- and everything--she was learning about his philosophy on Christianity. Soren Kierkegaard - one of those giant names in Philosophy-- a brilliant thinker that I have always fondly name dropped as if I had read some of his greatest works.

Still haven't tackled his writings: however, author Stephen Backhouse, a Kierkegaard expert, has given us casual readers a great "access point" to Kierkegaard by writing a biography appropriately entitled "Kierkegaard: A Single Life". This biography is very well -written: not too long, written as a smooth- flowing storyline, and humanizes a man whose name connotes deep thinking but whose life has been blurred behind the writings.

In the foreword to the book Backhouse grabbed me with the following: "Everyone knew that the deceased ( Kierkegaard) had characterized pastors as liars, deceivers, perjurer so; quite literally, without exception, not one honest pastor." As one who fights against all forms of authority that is a great way to describe S.K.! Just a final point of clarification: this is a great biography telling the story of the man who wrote all that deep post - graduate level "stuff" for M. Div candidates. We are given a light- touch on Kierkegaard's writings so that we learn what has made him a giant in Christendom.

Thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for making this book available in advance of the official publication.

[Abigail Heatwole]

Now I really want to read Kierkegaard, but where to start? A single individual could spend a lifetime on his tomes it would seem

[robin friedman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Single Individual

Stephen Backhouse, Lecturer in Social and Political Theology at St. Mellitus College, London, has written a highly engaging and sympathetic introduction to the great nineteenth century Danish thinker, Soren Kierkegaard, (1813 -- 1855) in his new short biography, "Kierkegaard: A Single Life" (2016) Although Backhouse has also written detailed academic studies of Kierkegaard, his new book is written for a general audience. The book is in two parts. The first 200 pages of the book consists of biography. The final fifty pages consists of short overviews and summaries of the many published works of Kierkegaard, both those written under his own name and those written under pseudonyms.

It is a difficult, elusive task to write a biography of a philosopher, especially an enigmatic figure such as Kierkegaard. A great deal of disagreement is also possible about the relationship between the "works" and the "life"; and some philosophers take a distinctly un-biographical approach to understanding the works of other thinkers. (Heidegger notoriously observed of Aristotle that he was born, he lived and he died.) Other philosophers, such as Josiah Royce in his once well known "The Spirit of Modern Philosophy" (1892) make considerable use of biography. Kierkegaard was a highly personal thinker and his experiences are reflected in his voluminous writings, as Backhouse shows. His life is fascinating in itself and helps in an approach to his thinking.

As Backhouse stresses, Kierkegaard is a difficult thinker whose works resist easy summarization or interpretation. This is due in part to the many pseudonyms under which he wrote which tend to mask his thought. While he wrote brilliantly, Kierkegaard also wrote ironically, making it difficult to tell where he stood. Backhouse stresses the difficulty was intentional as Kierkegaard struggled to understand himself and tried to write for "the single individual" who would take the trouble to read his books slowly and seriously,rather than for a mass, group, or party.

Backhouse tells of how Kierkegaard took private lessons with an influential theologian, Hans Martensen, with whom he would quarrel many times over the years. As a young student, Kierkegaard was critical of his tutor because, in Kierkegaard's words, Martensen"fascinated the youth and gave them the idea they could swallow everything in half a year." Backhouse offers his own caution against the easy summarization of difficult thought, particularly that of Kierkegaard. He also explains the goal of his book.

"A word of confession and warning: Kierkegaard himself was disdainful of the practice of overviews. He wrote specifically to avoid summarization and is all the better for it. If you use these overviews to avoid engaging with the real thing, then it may be small comfort to know the only person Kierkegaard dislikes more than you is me. Kierkegaard can be hard work. My overviews are meant to help orient the biographical reader. They are invariably also my interpretation. You must read the originals and decide for yourself. Another warning: it might change your life. I know he changed mine."

The writing in this biography is fast-paced and immediate. Backhouse tells a lively story, begins in the middle of things, and writes in a flowing present tense. The book begins with Kierkegaard's funeral, with Backhouse using the opportunity to relate telling incidents and to introduce many people important to the philosopher. The reader gets an immediate feel for the person and his eccentricities. The immediacy of the writing continues as Backhouse explores Kierkegaard's tortured relationships with his father, mother, and siblings and his intellectual competitiveness. We see him as an arrogant, profligate young man running up large bills to be paid by his father. Most of all Backhouse tells the story of Kierkegaard's unfortunate and failed romance with Regine Olsen. Olsen had accepted Kierkegaard's proposal after a strange courtship, which Kierkegaard was soon to break off in a shocking fashion. The love and influence of Regine Olsen, and Kierkegaard's ambivalence about marriage, stayed with him and his writing throughout his life, as Backhouse makes clear. Backhouse uses Kierkegaard's own journals and other private writings to trace his growth towards seriousness and to the exploration of the single self and of Christianity that pervades his writings. Kierkegaard's personal life with its many quirks is developed convincingly and Backhouse relates it to the writings, culminating in the "Attack upon Christendom" for which the thinker became notorious in his final years. Kierkegaard argued earnestly and sharply that what he saw as the comfortable, self-satisfied middle class Christianity of Denmark and other European countries was not the difficult, profound Christianity taught in the New Testament.

Backhouse offers a portrayal of a complex, single person with all his many faults. The author is much more sympathetic to his subject than the reader might be in reading his book. At times, I felt an over-familiarity and strained intimacy with the subject, shown most simply by Backhouse's reference to his subject as "Soren". I don't think the prickly, private Kierkegaard would have responded well to familiarity expressed by a biographer more than a century later. Backhouse does well in pointing to the great influence of Kierkegaard in many fields, not limited to philosophy and theology. He became faddish to some, particularly young people, -- a result Kierkegaard would have deplored. Of his many books, Backhouse suggests (p. 261) that the late work "For Self-Examination" would make a good first choice for readers new to Kierkegaard.

This is an excellent book for readers new to Kierkegaard or for those wanting to learn from Backhouse's reading of the philosopher. Readers generally find the books that mean something to them. A close reading of Kierkegaard may not be for everyone. Backhouse's work will allow readers to determine whether they wish to study Kierkegaard in more detail. Kudos to the publisher and to Amazon for making this thoughtful book available to reviewers through the Vine program.

Robin Friedman

[Paul Ataua · Rating 2 out of 5]

Being an aficionado of Kierkegaard and guilty of constantly scouring the internet for new books on him, I was really excited about getting a hot off the press copy of “Kierkegaard: A Single Life”, and was spurred on by the Amazon blurb claiming that I could ‘discover a new understanding of Kierkegaard’s thought and his life’.

Unfortunately, I was disappointed. Where I come from when we get ‘a meat and potato pie’, we expect that there is more meat than potato, otherwise it would be a “potato and meat pie” with more potato than meat. This seemed to claim to be ‘the thought and life’ of Soren Kierkegaard, but in fact was heavy with life and very light on thought. The ‘thought’ was relegated to the second half of the book and was, at best, shallow with just a few pages allotted to each book that Kierkegaard wrote.

And so it was a biography, but even as a biography it didn’t appoint me (if this isn’t an accepted word, it should be). There was little enlightenment regarding the significance of the ‘Regina-Kierkegaard’ relationship, and, at times, too many incidents were left hanging without meaning. Without giving spoilers, one might consider the “waiters’ incident’ in which the author recounts an interesting story, but doesn’t tell us where the anecdote comes from or what its significance was to the anecdote tellers or to Kierkegaard. When we leave these gaps, our minds are left to fill in the blanks. I certainly skimmed things from the book and felt it was written in a fairly accessible style, but it was a disappointment. I apologize to my philosophy loving friends (hi Lori!) because I really want to write positive reviews, but, in this case, I can’t.

[Benjamin Kozel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid biography of Kierkegaards life. Reveals a lot of Kierkegaards thinking with his Father, family, social conditions and the political environment of Denmark. There's plenty in his life alone that can be reflected on. I was not away of his conflict with the state church and the context of "Christendom" from his writings. Though Backhouse writes a praising biography of Kierkegaard, at least in his writing, it doesn't seem that he recognizes the beauty in which Soren conducted his life. Particularly with Kierkegaards relationship with Regine and his obsession with suffering and sadness, I don't think Backhouse does Kierkegaard justice. He writes Soren more as a character than a human which is almost antithetical to Kierkegaards writing. It's also strange reading such simple writing about one of the most prodigious and poignant writers.

Meta-review:
This book was given to me by my pastor after I mentioned my interest in Doug Wilson and his influence on the men of my generation. Zach, the parallels are not lost on me though I do think there are several key differences. That said, I find reading second hand copies enjoyable. It's fascinating to find what another individual found compelling in a story through their underlines and margin notes. Hopefully this isn't talking out of church but there was a clear attentiveness in Kierkegaards pants and his conflict with media, particularly the comedians of the day. Pertinent to his role of course.

[Abram Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would highly recommend this book before one tries to dive into Kierkegaard's works. It gives a good description of his culture and the era in which he lived, what influenced his writing, and his personal life. It definitely made me want to read more of this philosopher who wasn't well known outside of his home country during his lifetime, but who now is known and studied worldwide.

[Adam Shields · Rating 4 out of 5]

To the best of my memory I have never studied or read any Kierkegaard. I have heard several people commend Kierkegaard: A Single Life and when I saw it on sale on audiobook I picked it up.

This is a brief, but good overview of his life. And because Kierkegaard is important primarily for his writing, there is good context for that as well. At the end of the book, there was short descriptions of each piece (1-3 pages) which was much more helpful and interesting than I would have suspected going in.

In general I find biographies worth reading, if when I am finished, I want to either find another biography or pick up books written by the subject. I more want to read Kierkegaard than read more about him at this point. So I rate this as a helpful biography. Light, short, it feels a bit like one of the Very Short Introduction to X styled biographies. It is longer than that, about 300 pages. But this was clearly designed as an introduction.

Same review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/kierkegaard/

[Brother Brandon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent overview of the life of Kierkegaard and his works. S.K. is so unbelievable that learning about his life felt like a fiction. But, indeed, he is real and perhaps more real than most people in the most real way!!

Kierkegaard's ideas come through in Bonhoeffer's Cost of Discipleship, particularly "cheap grace", the call of the individual, the critique of "Christendom" or institutionalized Christianity to name a few. These connections were cool to see. I really liked Backhouse's chapter on how Kierkegaard shaped other thinkers over the years (including Karl Barth, Bonny, Camus, Eliot, Japanese animes and Donald Glover (LOL) to name only a select few).

In the last part of his book, Backhouse gives short summaries of all of Kierkegaard's works. This is amazing! Since we can't read all of Kierkegaard's work (there's other good reads to get to), these summaries give us a glimpse of the canon and invites us to read the texts we feel are more important to us.

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating in a way that many biographies aren’t. I will read Kirkegaard.

[Jacob Padgett · Rating 4 out of 5]

A brilliant biography on the life of Soren Kierkegaard to help better explain his works that have captivated readers and scholars.

[Michael Contreras · Rating 3 out of 5]

An accessible, funny, concise, and sincere treatment of Kierkegaard, with a breakdown of his works at the end. I found myself feeling connected to Kierkegaard the person instead of just the thinker; the lonely, faithfully unfaithful (to established Christendom), courageous critic and friend of God that I grew to know in these pages.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful introduction to the life and thought of Kierkegaard. Perfect text and resource for undergrad students, or those coming to the philosopher for the first time at any stage in life.

If 'we read to know we're not alone', this is a book that will serve as that very sort of assurance.

[Andrew Myrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Danish man that has never worked a day in his life fakes going to the opera and writes philosophy books as an attempt to play hard to get with his ex

[Laura Fabrycky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this biography

[David Rush · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very nice biography, very readable, and should probably be read BEFORE reading any actual Kierkegaard stuff. For you see decades ago I was on a Kierkegaard kick but I really didn’t know what I was getting into. I remember a few scraps but other than reinforcing how to spell Kierkegaard I didn’t get much out if.

This bio lays it out how to deal with all the pseudonyms and explains how that was part of Copenhagen literary life back in the day. AND it would help digest sentences like this...

“But what is the self?...The self is a relation that relates itself to itself or is the relation’s relating itself to itself in the relation ; the self is not the relation but is the relation’s relating itself to itself”… probably, partly a joke on similar sounding Hegelian terminology… Pg. 250

For you see I was not a Philosophy major and really was just fond of reading introductory philosophy books. But none of the them said much about Kierkegaard was using sarcasm, and humor, and such.

Anyway a good bit of background, Like this From K’s journals

I open the N.T, and read: “If you want to be perfect, then sell all your goods and give to the poor and follow me .” Good God, if all the capitalists, the office holders, the pensioners, the whole race no less, would be almost beggars: we would be sunk if it were not for...scholarship! pg. 173

But one can’t help but notice that for all K’s work to expose the vacuous-ness of state or populist Christianity, he doesn’t seem to ever stepped up to the plate to actually “DO” something like sell all of his own goods and give it to the poor.

To be fair I have not done that either.

[Corey Wozniak · Rating 5 out of 5]

Zing! ⚡️

Kierkegaard has had me praying, the past several days, to become a "more authentic self." I want very much to become a true Christian, an authentic witness, and not just a drone of 'Christendom.'

Instead of a review, I offer for your consideration the following quotes from Kierkegaard, and one from the author of this biography, Stephen Backhouse. These quotes are my loose transcriptions from the audiobook I listened to, transcribed to the best of my ability, but nevertheless probably imperfectly.

(1) “It is frequently said that if Christ came to the world now he would once again be crucified. This is not entirely true— the world has changed— it is now immersed in understanding, therefore Christ would be ridiculed, treated as a madman, but a madman at whom one laughs.”

(2) “What Christendom needs at every moment is someone who expresses Christianity uncalculatingly or with absolute recklessness. He is then to be regarded as a measuring instrument. That is, how he is judged in Christendom will be a test of how much Christianity there is in Christendom in a given time. If his fate is to be mocked and ridiculed, to be regarded as mad, while a whole contemporary generation of clergy, who— note well— do not dare to speak uncalculatingly or recklessly is honored— that they are also regarded as true Christians, then sure Christendom is an illusion.”

(3) “A modern clergyman is an active, adroit, quick person, who knows how to introduce a little christianity very mildly, attractively, and in beautiful language, etc., but as mildly as possible. In the NT Christianity is the deepest wound that can be dealt to a man, designed to collide with everything on the most appalling scale. And now the clergyman is perfectly trained to introduce Christianity in such a way that it means nothing. And when he can do it perfectly, he is a paragon…. How disgusting.”


(5) "Kierkegaard sees Christendom as a process by which groups adopt, absorb, and neuter Christianity into oblivion— all the while assuming they are still Christian." - Stephen Backhouse, author

(6) “If a human being were a beast or an angel, he could not be in anxiety … the more profoundly he is in anxiety, the greater is the man.”

(7) “The immorality of our age is perhaps not lust and pleasure and sensuality, but rather a pantheistic, debauched contempt for individual human beings. Just as in the desert individuals must travel in large caravans out of fear of robbers and wild animals, so individuals today have a horror of existence because it is god-forsaken. They dare to live only in great herds and cling together en mass in order to be at least something.”

(8) “The sacrifice he [Christ] offered, he did not offer for people in general, nor did he want to save people in general, and it cannot be done in that way either.”

##

Kierkegaard's influence is everywhere. Consider these modern homages:
- Simon Munnery (comedian) Sings Soren Kierkegaard
- Arcade Fire's album Reflektor is an homage to SK
- In an interview, Donald Glover says SK makes him feel "less alone."
- Kim Kierkegaardashian (twitter handle)
- Mangas like Sickness Unto Death and Anime Neon Genesis Evangelion.

SK influenced Cornel West, MLK Jr., Richard Wright, FDR, the French existentialists (whether they admitted it or not), Heidegger, the 'Inklings', theologians (Barth, Tillich, Boenhoffer).


###

PS, or "Concluding Scientific Postscript" ;) : This is my second reading of the book, and I got so much more out of it this time. This is something I ought to remember: good and difficult books should be read twice. In this second read, I better grasped some of those key concepts and difficult ideas that eluded me last time: Abraham's "leap of faith" as a simultaneous relinquishing of Isaac and the full expectancy of his restoration; the 'teleological suspension of the ethical'; the 'stages' of the aesthetic, the ethical, and the religious; "subjectivity"; anxiety; the crowd and its 'leveling' of the individual; Christendom & why SK did not consider himself a Christian. In short, I think I missed just about everything last time, but it clicked this time.

[Thomas · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kierkegaard lived a boring life, and this is a boring book. Which is a shame, because Kierkegaard's thought and writing are never boring. It probably helps to know a little about his abortive love life, his spats with family members, church leaders, and Christendom in general, but this only helps to frame his personality. I was hoping for something similar to Safranski's bio of Heidegger, where the development of Heidegger's thinking is described in tandem with biographical details. By contrast, what Backhouse offers here is a well-written attempt to jazz up the life of a boring academic Dane, to which he appends a decent summary of his life's work as an afterthought.

[K T · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a straightforward biography about a notoriously complex character. To the self styled 'aficionado' who complained it did not go in depth into Kierkegaard's intellectual life, the author clearly states from the beginning that this book is not for aficionados. There are a few academic biographies out there already that do this job. This one is meant for non specialists who have heard the name of 'Kierkegaard' and want a good introduction to his life and influence on the modern world.

[G0thamite · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been waiting for this book for years and now Backhouse has rewarded my patience. The single best introduction to SK's life, thought and influence to date. It invites you to continue further by reading SK's works. If you choose to continue, be prepared to wade into deep waters. But you will be richly rewarded for your effort.

[Claire · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the most readable, fascinating biography I've ever read. Just a perfect mix of warm, urbane, articulate analysis of K's ideology, balanced with well-paced narration of his life's events and progression. I'm sad to see Backhouse hasn't done biographies of other philosophers because I would read them immediately if so.

[Erin Henry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice introduction to Kierkegaard. 3/4 of the book is a biography and the last 1/4 is an overview of his works. Great place to start if you are just learning about Kierkegaard.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a former Kierkegaard scholar, I have a great deal of respect for Backhouse as scholar and interpreter of SK. He positions this biography for a general audience rather than a scholarly audience, which he rightly sees well occupied by Hannay's intellectual biography of SK and Garff's more post-modern biography (translated by Kirmmse into English).

I found his narrative fun, illuminating in places, and easy to follow. I know I'm not the audience he is going for, but I've not read much Kierkegaard in a while and it was enjoyable to expecting this portrait of him. It reminded me why I love SK for much.

One major thought I had upon reading concerned Backhouse's take on Practice in Christianity and his discussion of the reception of SK's thought by Bonhoeffer in the Cost of Discipleship. In Anti-Climacus's (SK's pseudonym for this work) Practice in Christianity is presented as a work on how to become a Christian in a age of Christendom (e.g., State Churches with a union of church and state or People's Churches, a Christian nationalism of sorts), which on the one hand requires honestly admitting how far we are from Christianity but also indicates about how challenging it is to become a Christian in that kind of environment.

Similarly, Bonhoeffer is talking about how one can become a Christian in an age of National Socialism, where grace becomes a matter of course for German nationals who support the Third Reich. In both cases, Christianity is obliterated by something masquerading as it.

What this made me ponder was where a contemporary Practice/Discipleship is. How can one become a Christian in a age of Trumpism? How can Christianity been obliterated by this new version of Christendom/Christian nationalism/populism? We need that kind of iconoclastic contribution, although I'm sure it would probably have little impact on those consumed by our new version of Christendom, but at least it would lay it bare.

I appreciate that the reader says the Danish names accurately too!

[Charles Puskas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well-written account of the Danish Socrates, approaching him from different angles & perspectives. It also contains a nice overview of his works. My Kindle edition also had an audio component which I occasionally used as I read the text. Publisher's summary: Discover a new understanding of Kierkegaard’s thought and his life, a story filled with romance, betrayal, humor, and riots. Kierkegaard, like Einstein and Freud, is one of those geniuses whose ideas permeate the culture and shape our world even when relatively few people have read their works. That lack of familiarity with the real Kierkegaard is about to change. This lucid new biography by scholar Stephen Backhouse presents the genius as well as the acutely sensitive man behind the brilliant books. Scholarly and accessible, Kierkegaard: A Single Life introduces his many guises—the thinker, the lover, the recluse, the writer, the controversialist—in prose so compelling it reads like a novel. One chapter examines Kierkegaard’s influence on our greatest cultural icons—Kafka, Barth, Bonhoeffer, Camus, and Martin Luther King Jr., to name only a few. A useful appendix presents an overview of each of Kierkegaard’s works, for the scholar and lay reader alike.

[Marcia Pottenger · Rating 4 out of 5]

While Kierkegaard's writing is somewhat convoluted, Backhouse has managed to strike a good balance between including Kierkegaard's own words, with Backhouse's interpretation of the more dense passages. This book is readable and engaging, while not losing the essence of who Kierkegaard was and what he believed.

Favorite quote: "Despair is the action of not willing to be one's authentic self. . . If one wants to find one's authentic existence, then one has to be rightly oriented to God. The action of becoming a self happens always before God. Refusing to become a self also happens before God. . . [Some] humans are fearful of the burden of being an individual. They hide in their mass herds and distractions. As a result they do not find authentic existence and are cut off from a right relation to the God who grounds all existence" (pp. 250, 251).

[Marc Sims · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars.

A helpful introduction to a famously difficult philosopher. I would have liked this book to spend more time on Kierkegaard’s philosophical development, and expand on his ideas more—but it focused primarily on his life. Kierkegaard’s writing at times strikes me as brilliantly profound; his life struck me as melodramatic and vain. I read this to help me begin reading Kierkegaard, and I indeed feel excited to do so. With all of the complex layers of irony and pseudonyms used in his authorship, I don’t think I would have been able to understand his work without the help this book gave!

[Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent introductory biography to Søren Kierkegaard's life and works! I had heard references to Kierkegaard many a time, and wanted to know more, so I was immensely pleased when I was gifted this book. Not super technical, pretty short and quite readable, it may be a bit light for some serious readers, but an excellent orientation for newbies like me. I now feel prepared to tackle some of Kierkegaard's own works directly with the context that this book helpfully provides.

[Tom Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Possibly the most excellent book I have ever read. Written with such clarity and intrigue that you get swept up into it’s pages. Both a biography of Kierkegaard and an insight into his mind, philosophy and struggles.

[Shane Kelley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This has been on my shelf for years and I’m glad I finally cracked it open. I appreciate the biography and brief book summaries as a combined work. This really helped me catch up on Kierkegaard’s life and thought - very provoking! I didn’t expect to encounter so many connections to Severance 😅