Was Kierkegaard a Theist?

Abstract

To some readers, the answer to the question which I have posed in the title will seem obvious: “If you mean by a Theist one who believes in the existence of a transcendent God, etc., then of course Kierkegaard was a Theist.” And evidence for such an answer can readily be produced by citing Kierkegaard’s later religious — or more specifically, Christian — writings which constitute a large part of his works. However, in posing the question, I am referring to certain views expressed primarily in two of Kierkegaard’s earlier, more “philosophical” works, the Philosophical Fragments and the Concluding Unscientific Postscript. And of course, if it could be shown that Kierkegaard did not hold a traditional Theistic view in those works, then one might argue that the later religious writings ought to be interpreted in a non-traditional way, one which accords with the conception put forth in the two earlier books. However, this would not be a satisfactory reply to anyone who answered the title-question in the manner I indicated above. For such readers could rightly point out that the Fragments and Postscript are both among Kierkegaard’s pseudonymous works; and they might stress that, in view of Kierkegaard’s own comments, the position held in those works should be attributed to the pseudonymous author, Johannes Climacus, and not to Kierkegaard himself. The first of these assertions is undeniably true, and the second has considerable force. Hence, at least for the present, I shall change my original question for another: Was Johannes Climacus a Theist?