The Absolute Paradox

Introduction: Søren Kierkegaard was born in 1813 in Copenhagen, Denmark. His father was plagued by a sense of guilt for having cursed God, and Kierkegaard inherited his father’s anxiety-filled piety. He enrolled in the University of Copenhagen in 1830, first taking a wide variety of courses in the liberal arts and then concentrating on theology and philosophy. His father died in 1838, leaving him a fortune large enough to support his continued studies at the University and subsequently a life devoted to reflection and writing. Kierkegaard completed his degree in theology in 1840. Later that year he proposed marriage to a young woman named Regine Olsen. But he came to believe that his unique philosophical and religious vocation would be incompatible with marriage, and in 1841 he made the anguished decision to break the engagement. Kierkegaard then retreated to Berlin. Six months later he returned to Copenhagen, where he spent his remaining years reflecting on his Christian faith and exploring philosophical questions. He died in Copenhagen in 1855 at the age of forty-two.