This is the first English edition of a major work by the Danish philosopher and theologian K. E. Løgstrup (1905-81). It is the culmination of his critical engagement with Kierkegaardianism, which had begun almost 20 years earlier. In this text, Løgstrup focuses on four main themes in Kierkegaard: his understanding of Christ and thus of Christianity; his understanding of suffering in human existence; Christian vs. secular ethics; and Platonistic influences on Kierkegaard's position, which Løgstrup characterises as nihilistic. Løgstrup presents his own alternative conception in response: that Christ revealed universal ontological ethical structures that put Christians and non-Christians on a par; that suffering is a basic human experience and so there is no such thing as a particular Christian suffering; that sovereign expressions of life such as trust, sincerity, and compassion are the fundamental phenomena of ethics that enable our lives to function, and are thus given as a gift of creation, not of faith; and finally that human existence as created is meaningful and holds value and so is not a Kierkegaardian 'nothingness' of mere relativity. As well as offering a classic and yet controversial critique of Kierkegaard, this text also develops Løgstrup's conception of the sovereign expressions of life, which was to become central to his later ethics, further deepening his distinctive understanding of the human condition. Here translated in full for the first time, it will now be possible for English-speaking readers to explore the issues that drew Løgstrup into his controversion with Kierkegaard.

In recent years interest in the thought of Kierkegaard has grown dramatically, and with it the body of secondary literature has expanded so quickly that it has become impossible for even the most conscientious scholar to keep pace. The problem of the explosion of secondary literature is made more acute by the fact that much of what is written about Kierkegaard appears in languages that most Kierkegaard scholars do not know. Kierkegaard has become a global phenomenon, and new research traditions have emerged in different languages, countries and regions. The present volume is dedicated to trying to help to resolve these two problems in Kierkegaard studies. Its purpose is, first, to provide book reviews of some of the leading monographic studies in the Kierkegaard secondary literature so as to assist the community of scholars to become familiar with the works that they have not read for themselves. The aim is thus to offer students and scholars of Kierkegaard a comprehensive survey of works that have played a more or less significant role in the research. Second, the present volume also tries to make accessible many works in the Kierkegaard secondary literature that are written in different languages and thus to give a glimpse into various and lesser-known research traditions. The six tomes of the present volume present reviews of works written in Catalan, Chinese, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, Galician, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Spanish, and Swedish.

In Kierkegaard's and Heidegger's Analysis of Existence and its Relation to Proclamation (1950), Løgstrup offers an original critique of these key thinkers. Arguing against their idea that 'life in the crowd' threatens individuality, he proposes an ethic beyond social rules: a requirement to care for a person whose life is placed in your hands.

The Ethical Demand (1956) by K. E. Løgstrup is one of the great works of modern moral philosophy: it is presented here in a new translation with introduction and notes. Løgstrup puts forward his distinctive view concerning our vulnerability to each other and what this requires of us in response. He starts by considering Jesus's 'proclamation' to love your neighbour and how this can be understood in 'purely human terms' as relating to basic features of our existence. Reflecting on the phenomenon of trust, Løgstrup emphasizes the fundamental interdependence of human life and how this gives rise to an 'ethical demand' on us to care for the other, which he characterizes as radical, silent, one-sided, and unfulfillable. In order to make sense of a demand of this sort, Løgstrup argues, we must see 'life as a gift', rather than treating ourselves as the sovereign grounds for our own existence. He contrasts this demand to social norms, which are often reciprocal in this way, and argues that while such norms are changeable, the ethical demand itself is absolute. Løgstrup therefore makes a fundamental contribution to our understanding of the nature of-and basis for-our obligations to each other. In this critical edition, Løgstrup's original text is accurately rendered into readable English and paired with an introduction which explains the main themes and wider context of the work.

Providing book reviews of some of the leading monographic studies in the Kierkegaard secondary literature, this volume aims to assist the community of scholars in becoming familiar with the works that they have not read for themselves, thus offering them a comprehensive survey of works that have played a more or less significant role in the research. In addition it tries to make accessible many works in the Kierkegaard secondary literature that are written in different languages.The six tomes of the present volume present reviews of works written in Catalan, Chinese, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, Galician, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Spanish, and Swedish.

The aim of Odgaard Møller's book is threefold: The first main section seeks to clarify how and why Jesus is presented in the pre-1968 writings of the Danish theologian and philosopher K.E. Løgstrup (1905–1981). Throughout his work, Løgstrup's main focus has been a rehabilitation of the insight that life is something definite, because it is created. Here, Jesus primarily plays a methodological/strategic role as the one confirming and giving witness to Løgstrup's interpretation of created life in a given time of his authorship. When faith in creation is formulated polemically against another interpretation of life, Jesus serves as Løgstrup's ally in this discussion. In the second main section, this examination is extrapolated to include a discussion with Bultmann and two of his students in order to clarify the character of his Christology, not least whether – or in what way – this can be characterised as "implicit Christology". Finally, in the light of Ricoeur's hermeneutic philosophy of religion, the third main section considers the systematic-theological validity of this picture of Jesus. The overall conclusion can be summed up in this way: The main line in Løgstrup's work goes from created life to the human being Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus incarnates created life; therefore he is the true human being. This close connection between (created) Life and (true) Human Being is the kernel in Løgstrup's thought. This makes his perception of Jesus and his Christology distinctive, original and specifically Løgstrupian.

This is the first English edition of a major work by the Danish philosopher and theologian K. E. Løgstrup (1905-81). It is the culmination of his critical engagement with Kierkegaardianism, which had begun almost 20 years earlier. In this text, Løgstrup focuses on four main themes in Kierkegaard: his understanding of Christ and thus of Christianity; his understanding of suffering in human existence; Christian vs. secular ethics; and Platonistic influences on Kierkegaard's position, which Løgstrup characterises as nihilistic. Løgstrup presents his own alternative conception in response: that Christ revealed universal ontological ethical structures that put Christians and non-Christians on a par; that suffering is a basic human experience and so there is no such thing as a particular Christian suffering; that sovereign expressions of life such as trust, sincerity, and compassion are the fundamental phenomena of ethics that enable our lives to function, and are thus given as a gift of creation, not of faith; and finally that human existence as created is meaningful and holds value and so is not a Kierkegaardian 'nothingness' of mere relativity. As well as offering a classic and yet controversial critique of Kierkegaard, this text also develops Løgstrup's conception of the sovereign expressions of life, which was to become central to his later ethics, further deepening his distinctive understanding of the human condition. Here translated in full for the first time, it will now be possible for English-speaking readers to explore the issues that drew Løgstrup into his controversion with Kierkegaard.