Journal article
Was Kierkegaard a Universalist?
Philosophies (Basel), v 9(4), p116
01 Aug 2024
Abstract
Christian universalism, or the theory of universal salvation, is increasingly popular among religious thinkers. A small group of scholars has put forward the contentious claim that Kierkegaard was a universalist, despite that he refers in places to the idea of eternal damnation as essential to Christianity. This paper examines the evidence both for and against the view that Kierkegaard was a universalist and concludes that despite Kierkegaard’s occasional references to the importance of the idea of eternal damnation to Christianity, there is reason to believe that Kierkegaard may have been a universalist, both in terms of the substance of his thought, including two unequivocal statements in his journals that he believed everyone would eventually be saved and in terms of his rhetorical style which prioritizes the effect his writings would have on the reader over the literal truth of the views they present.
Metrics
3 Record Views
Details
- Title
- Was Kierkegaard a Universalist?
- Creators
- M. G. Piety - Drexel University
- Publication Details
- Philosophies (Basel), v 9(4), p116
- Publisher
- MDPI; BASEL
- Number of pages
- 11
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- English and Philosophy
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:001306635000001
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-85202473907
- Other Identifier
- 991021897315704721
InCites Highlights
Data related to this publication, from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool:
- Web of Science research areas
- History & Philosophy Of Science
- Philosophy