Fun Facts Friday: Søren Kierkegaard

Søren Kierkegaard (5 May, 1813 – 11 November, 1855) was a Danish poet, critic, author, and philosopher.  Mr. Kierkegaard brought a huge change in Christianity during his lifetime.

Books by or about Søren Kierkegaard*

Fun Facts about Søren Kierkegaard:

1. Søren Aabye Kierkegaard was born in Copenhagen to a rich family. He was part of seven siblings. His father, Michael Pedersen Kierkegaard, was a rich merchant, and apparently a very stern, dry man.
2. Being part of a rich family has many advantages including going to good schools. He graduated from Borgerdydskolen, an esteemed boys’ school. Later, he studied theology and philosophy at Copenhagen University.
3. While at the university, Mr. Kierkegaard was looking for existential models for himself through literary figures including Don Juan (before Lord Byron’s version), the Wandering Jew, as well as Faust.
4. Before he finished his studies, Kierkegaard had a fallout with his father and his faith and moved out. However, before his father passed away the two made up, and Kierkegaard found his faith again.
5. The author inherited 30,000 rixdalers (rijksdaalder?) when his father passed away, and was able to live off of it for the rest of his life.
6. Like many writers of the time, and even later, Mr. Kierkegaard wrote under several pseudonyms when he wanted to disagree with…  himself. He was a firm believer that true faith requires doubt since “Doubt is conquered by faith, just as it is faith which has brought doubt into the world”.
7. Søren Kierkegaard is considered to be the first modern Existentialist, saying that humans, as unique individuals, fulfill their being by simply existing and not being absorbed by any system and that labels simply negate the individual.
8. Overall, Mr. Kierkegaard led a somewhat boring life, spending most of it in Copenhagen, going to Berlin four times, and once to Sweden.
9. One of the reasons, scholars believe, that Kierkegaard stayed close to home was because he suffered from spinal disease throughout his life.
10. In 1885, Søren Kierkegaard collapsed in the street and died a month later. He left behind a legacy of ideas that truly took an impact more than a century after his death.

Books by or about Søren Kierkegaard*

Zohar – Man of la Book
*Ama­zon links point to an affil­i­ate account, the money is usually spent on books

Sources:

Existentialism: From Kierkegaard to Sartre | Owlcation

10 Fascinating Facts About Søren Kierkegaard | Mental Floss

Søren Kierkegaard | Danish philosopher | Britannica

Søren Kierkegaard | Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Søren_Kierkegaard | Wikipedia

Soren Kierkegaard | authorscalendar.info