Soren Kierkegaard, the Danish philosopher who would become the father of existentialism, struggled throughout his life with what it meant to become a Christian in Christendom—to have genuine faith in a society where everyone was nominally Christian but few lived as though Christ had any real claim on their lives.
Growing Up Under Religious Shadow
Born in Copenhagen in 1813, Kierkegaard grew up under the shadow of his father's melancholic piety. Michael Pedersen Kierkegaard had once, as a poor shepherd boy, cursed God—a transgression he believed had brought divine judgment on his family. Five of his seven children died before him. This atmosphere of guilt and religious intensity shaped young Soren profoundly.
The Philosopher's Leap of Faith
At the University of Copenhagen, Kierkegaard initially drifted from faith into what he called "aesthetic existence"—pursuing pleasure and distraction. But this proved hollow. In 1838, he experienced what he recorded in his journal as an "indescribable joy": "There is such a thing as an indescribable joy which glows through us as unaccountably as the Apostle's outburst is unexpected: 'Rejoice, and again I say, Rejoice.'"
This experience marked the beginning of his return to Christian faith, though he would spend his remaining years working out what that faith truly required. His entire philosophical output can be understood as an extended reflection on what it means to exist before God.
Living Personal Christian Truth
Kierkegaard distinguished between three modes of existence: the aesthetic (living for pleasure), the ethical (living by duty), and the religious (living in relationship with God). Movement between these stages required what he called a "leap"—a decisive act of will that reason alone could not compel.
"The Christian truth," he wrote, "applies to you, to me, to him... It has to become personal." He attacked the comfortable Christianity of the Danish state church, which made faith merely cultural inheritance. "The matter is quite simple," he insisted. "The Bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers... We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand we are obliged to act accordingly."
His final years were consumed by an attack on institutional Christianity, which he saw as having betrayed the radical demands of the Gospel. He collapsed on the street in 1855 and died weeks later, refusing communion from a state church pastor but affirming his faith in Christ.
Kierkegaard's influence would prove enormous—on existentialism, on Protestant theology, on Catholic thought. His writings continue to challenge comfortable belief and call readers to genuine encounter with the living God.
