Kierkegaard and the Self before God

Podmore (Univ. of Oxford, UK) offers a probing examination of Kierkegaard's existential treatment of the relations between human sin and divine forgiveness. He seeks to counterbalance a dark portrait of Kierkegaard as obsessed only with human sin with a picture of the philosopher as gripped by divine forgiveness toward humans. As Podmore remarks, 'it is the paradox of an "impossible" forgiveness [from God] which holds the key to the paradox that one will express one's own nature most adequately when one expresses this difference [between God and humanity] absolutely.' The latter difference underlies the mention of the 'abyss' in the subtitle. The human self acquires its transparent selfhood, in this approach, as it embraces its creaturely relation to God, including its forgiveness from God. In illuminating this theme, the book expounds Kierkegaard on such existential topics as despair, melancholy, spiritual trial, and forgiveness. Podmore carefully relates some of Kierkegaard's ideas to the works of Luther, Karl Barth, and Rudolf Otto, among others, but he maintains careful scholarship regarding Kierkegaard's own positions. This book will be a valuable addition to libraries that support Kierkegaard studies or the philosophy of religion. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-level undergraduates through researchers/faculty. -Choice