“In this book Sylvia Walsh gives a comprehensive interpretation of how Kierkegaard understands what it means to live as a Christian. She shows that Kierkegaard’s ‘second authorship’ sees Christian existence as requiring an ‘inverse dialectic’ in which joy is attained through suffering, life through dying, and hope in God through despair of one’s own capabilities. Walsh’s work provides us with a powerful, unified account of Kierkegaard’s later, Christian writings. No one who wishes to understand Kierkegaard can ignore this central dimension of his thought, and Walsh has given us the best and clearest account of it that we have.”
—C. Stephen Evans,Baylor University
“Walsh writes clearly and with the assurance of one who is completely at home in the primary sources and is tried and tested in the cut and thrust of critical debates. . . . Walsh has undeniably opened up a rich field for English-language Kierkegaard study and it is to her credit if her work stimulates other and further studies.”
—George Pattison Religious Studies
“a work that is herewith and without reservation. . . .”
—Christopher A. P. Nelson International Journal of Philosophy of Religion
“Walsh offers an exegesis of complex Kierkegaardian notions such as sin-consciousness, offense, self-denial, suffering, and faith. As Kierkegaard scholars and teachers of existential philosophy are well aware, these are quite difficult concepts and tasks to comprehend, and much more difficult to embody and live. Walsh succeeds in explaining and defending these ideas.”
—M. R. Michau Choice
“Whether or not one will accept Kierkegaard’s description of living Christianly is beside the point here, since Walsh succeeds in her task of drawing from Kierkegaard’s journals and all the major works from the second period in order to give us a balanced, focused, and honest portrayal of Kierkegaard’s thought and task.”
—Mark L. McCreary Philosophy in Review
