Shows / Bierkergaard: The Writings of Soren Kierkegaard
Bierkergaard: The Writings of Soren Kierkegaard
"The Father of Existentialism" Danish writer, poet, philosopher, and Christian thinker Soren Kierkegaard, has much to teach us about our lives. Join me weekly as we take on his writings and think about how his brilliant and profound insights illuminate our way in a complicated and confusing world. I contribute a considerable amount of my own processing of Soren’s ideas and add my own personal experiences. As Soren would wish his readers to do. This is spiritual insight and truth for the real…
Episodes
- Bierkergaard: The Writings of Soren Kierkegaard
To Make A House A Home
Soren writes that a home is to create silence and not crowd out the Word and the Spirit. Our smartphones and other media create endless noise and distraction…
- Bierkergaard: The Writings of Soren Kierkegaard
Create Silence
Soren writes about needing to create silence in order to hear God. If true in 1840-1850’s Copenhagen, how much more true today? Riverside had technical…
- Bierkergaard: The Writings of Soren Kierkegaard
Nick (Nicodemus) at Night
Ol’ Nick was sneaking around, trying to hide in the dark, going to see Jesus. Soren reminds us we are often like Nick at Night. It is I.
- Bierkergaard: The Writings of Soren Kierkegaard
It Is To I
Soren implores us to remember it is to I the Bible is speaking.
- Bierkergaard: The Writings of Soren Kierkegaard
The Aesthetic Is Dethroned
I delve into the “Three Stages” in life’s way: The Aesthetic, the Ethical, and the Religious. Whenever money is involved, particularly with the Religious, be…
- Bierkergaard: The Writings of Soren Kierkegaard
It Is Speaking To Me
Soren says when we read Scripture, we need to remember that it is speaking directly to us and that we are to believe and act on it versus treating it as an…
- Bierkergaard: The Writings of Soren Kierkegaard
Reading God’s Word and Walking
I get into Diogenes and his philosophy of walking and living, then read Soren’s thoughts on biblical scholarship obscuring obedience.
- Bierkergaard: The Writings of Soren Kierkegaard
Reading God’s Word
Soren’s view of biblical scholarship is skeptical to a degree. It can be avoidance and endless debate. Faith does not require a full understanding.
- Bierkergaard: The Writings of Soren Kierkegaard
Inward Deepening
Soren wanted to stir Christians to action, to demonstrate that faith is active, moving, alive. I talk about walking in this episode. We may not be able to run…
- Bierkergaard: The Writings of Soren Kierkegaard
Lightning Most Often Strikes Churches
Martin Luther saw lightning striking churches as God’s judgment on Catholic corruption. Our scientific age laughs at this understanding. But, why is the church…
- Bierkergaard: The Writings of Soren Kierkegaard
Faith Is A Restless Thing
Kierkegaard incisively delineates the relationship between Faith and Works. Perhaps the best I have ever read in a page or less. I talk about my recent trip to…
- Bierkergaard: The Writings of Soren Kierkegaard
Anger: A Tool or a Weapon?
Soren’s essay quotes the Epistle of James as a basis for his thoughts. James writes that we are to be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger. For the…
- Bierkergaard: The Writings of Soren Kierkegaard
The Perfect Law of Liberty
Soren, like James, wants us to not be a forgetful hearer of the Word. Like a man who looks at himself in a mirror and forgets what he looks like.
- Bierkergaard: The Writings of Soren Kierkegaard
Smatterings & Silence
Catching up on what I am reading and shared an essay I wrote about silence.
- Bierkergaard: The Writings of Soren Kierkegaard
Rants of a Madman.
Not really. Just an update on Bierkergaard.
- Bierkergaard: The Writings of Soren Kierkegaard
Where Else Can We Go?
Kierkegaard finishes "Training In Christianity" with the reminder of Peter's words of "Where else can we go?" God's plan and provision is Christ or nothing…
- Bierkergaard: The Writings of Soren Kierkegaard
Art & Admirers
Kierkegaard writes that Christendom creates admirers of Jesus much like a piece of art would and not followers. A related topic is whether art is a legitimate…
- Bierkergaard: The Writings of Soren Kierkegaard
Nicodemus At Night
Kierkegaard uses the interaction at night between Jesus and Nicodemus to illustrate how a person of power, wealth, and position, fears man because of following…
- Bierkergaard: The Writings of Soren Kierkegaard
The Play: My Name Is Soren Kierkegaard
Our guest today is Timothy Andrew McIntosh who has written a play "My Name is Soren Kierkegaard." https://kierkegaardplay.com/about We had a fun and…
- Bierkergaard: The Writings of Soren Kierkegaard
Guest On Friday!
We have a guest on Friday so we are skipping today! Just a brief description of the guest and a pointer to not believe everything you read. Update: Guest…
- Bierkergaard: The Writings of Soren Kierkegaard
Admirers vs. Followers
Jesus doesn't want admirers. He wants followers. For He is the "Pattern" for us. Admiration in Soren's eyes can too easily turn to envy actively or just plain…
- Bierkergaard: The Writings of Soren Kierkegaard
Christ Gave Himself For The World
Kierkegaard writes that Jesus had to be the "Lowly One" in order to save the world. He had to take on disadvantage, humiliation, slander, and even death on the…
- Bierkergaard: The Writings of Soren Kierkegaard
The Father Wound & Healing
My dad passed away last Thursday. In this episode, I reflect on his life. Kierkegaard had a very complex relationship with his father also. No matter what our…
- Bierkergaard: The Writings of Soren Kierkegaard
The Punishment of Eternity
Kierkergaard saw Christendom, where all are Christians, to be in direct contradiction to the Scriptures where the faith is presented as both kindness and…
- Bierkergaard: The Writings of Soren Kierkegaard
The Church and the World
We are not to love the things of the world but love the people in the world. The love of things of the world is idolatry. The love of people is a commandment…
- Bierkergaard: The Writings of Soren Kierkegaard
In Memory of Todd
One of my best friends passed away unexpectedly on Saturday, 4/18. I talk about him, what he taught me and what we experienced as good friends of 4 decades. I…
- Bierkergaard: The Writings of Soren Kierkegaard
The Poor Simpleton
Kierkegaard writes of the "Poor Simpleton" who believes in the Church Militant based on his reading of what the Bible and Jesus says.
- Bierkergaard: The Writings of Soren Kierkegaard
All Are Christian
Kierkegaard writes that one does not become a Christian by being born in Christendom. Instead, it is being born-again by Faith in God. Put personal updates…
- Bierkergaard: The Writings of Soren Kierkegaard
Church Militant vs. Church Triumphant
Kierkegaard continues to develop the idea that the Triumphant Church is just another term for a Worldly Church. As a side note, based on the stats for the…
- Bierkergaard: The Writings of Soren Kierkegaard
Christendom Vs. Christianity
Kierkegaard demonstrates the errors of the Triumphant Church vs. the Militant Church. In a culture where almost everyone is a Christian is likely a culture…
- Bierkergaard: The Writings of Soren Kierkegaard
The Truth
"I only know Truth when it becomes a life in me." Kierkegaard. Knowing truth intellectually is only part of knowing Truth in our whole Being.
- Bierkergaard: The Writings of Soren Kierkegaard
What Is Truth?
When Pilate asked this infamous question, he was staring right at the Truth. Today's episode explores this exchange as well as who Pilate was.
- Bierkergaard: The Writings of Soren Kierkegaard
Love Is Hated, Truth Persecuted
Kierkegaard reminds us that Jesus being crucified casts the human race in quite an unflattering light.
- Bierkergaard: The Writings of Soren Kierkegaard
Advances Tranquilly Into The Suffering
"Now existence has racked him as hard as it can rack a person." (Kierkegaard). Sometimes all we can say, like Martin Luther, "I can do no other. God help me."
- Bierkergaard: The Writings of Soren Kierkegaard
The Watermark of Eternity
Kierkegaard writes in his book "Works of Love" that if you hold humanity up to the light, you will see the watermark of eternity. Regardless of what is written…
- Bierkergaard: The Writings of Soren Kierkegaard
Our Earthly Existence As A Test
Life for most of us is long enough to weigh what we believe and why. Yet, life is short in light of eternity. Too many people exchange what is passing for what…
- Bierkergaard: The Writings of Soren Kierkegaard
Crucify Love
Kierkegaard writes, "The world in which they crucify love and beg acquittal for a robber." The Resurrection of Jesus is both a physical reality and a spiritual…
- Bierkergaard: The Writings of Soren Kierkegaard
A Child Unspoiled By Learning
This is Soren at his best. Creating a story about a child, who for the first time, sees a picture of Jesus crucified. And then hears that Jesus loved all…
- Bierkergaard: The Writings of Soren Kierkegaard
His Burial
Every day was a preparation for His Burial. Listen to the podcast episode to find out why!
- Bierkergaard: The Writings of Soren Kierkegaard
The Contradiction
Christ is both the Humiliated One and the Exalted One. The word is translated as contradiction. I think a better word is paradox. He is both without being…
- Bierkergaard: The Writings of Soren Kierkegaard
To Become Ourselves
When Christ draws us, we become truly ourselves.
- Bierkergaard: The Writings of Soren Kierkegaard
The Unchangeable God
As we look behind and peer ahead at this time of year, let's keep our faith in God and take it a day at a time. The daily altar of coming to Him.
- Bierkergaard: The Writings of Soren Kierkegaard
From On High
Today, the episode goes further in-depth on the Kierkegaardian idea of not taking a risk is the greatest risk. Then, a bit of Training in Christianity is read…
- Bierkergaard: The Writings of Soren Kierkegaard
Humiliation & Exaltation
Soren establishes both the reality of Christ's Humiliation and His Exaltation. It is exaltation through humiliation. Both are required for an understanding of…
- Bierkergaard: The Writings of Soren Kierkegaard
Forgetting and Remembering
Soren writes that to forget the regrets, sins, and vanities of our past, we need to look to Jesus. Those difficult memories must be replaced by something and…
- Bierkergaard: The Writings of Soren Kierkegaard
Indirect Communication II
Soren continues to write about "Indirect Communication" so I named this episode Indirect Communication II. I am committed to reading Soren line-by-line so the…
- Bierkergaard: The Writings of Soren Kierkegaard
Soul Sorrow
Soren writes about the internal "Soul Sorrow" of Jesus. The "Divine Incognito" obscures an inner sorrow of coming into a world broken by sin. One that the…
- Bierkergaard: The Writings of Soren Kierkegaard
Indirect Communication
This episode, Soren writes quite a bit about "Indirect Communication" as a reality of Christ willing to be Incognito. The footnote comments by translator…
- Bierkergaard: The Writings of Soren Kierkegaard
The Divine Incognito
Jesus Christ, as the "Divine Incognito”, is the God-Man who willingly laid down the prerogatives of Deity to become a servant. Even to death on a cross.
- Bierkergaard: The Writings of Soren Kierkegaard
Sign of Contradiction
When coming to the "Sign of Contradiction" we will either respond in faith or be offended. The sign reveals the thoughts of the heart. The podcast episode was…
- Bierkergaard: The Writings of Soren Kierkegaard
Get Thee Behind Me Satan
"For thou mindest not the things of God but the things of men." Jesus to Peter. “A true friend expresses his/her views when the other person/friend is in evil…
- Bierkergaard: The Writings of Soren Kierkegaard
Specific Christian Suffering
"It is a whole musical tone deeper than common human suffering." Soren knew what it felt like to be mocked, derided, and dismissed, in his attempts to shake…
- Bierkergaard: The Writings of Soren Kierkegaard
Peter's Denial
Soren details Peter's denial of Jesus. The Offense of God being a lowly man on trial for blasphemy.
- Bierkergaard: The Writings of Soren Kierkegaard
Lowly & Extraordinary
"They are offended that He, this lowly man, should be the extraordinary one."
- Bierkergaard: The Writings of Soren Kierkegaard
Will Ye Also Go Away?
Jesus asked this of the 12 Disciples who had seen his miracles. The Offense. Proofs make us attentive but it still requires Faith.
- Bierkergaard: The Writings of Soren Kierkegaard
John The Baptist...Doubts
When John was thrown into prison, he began to doubt Jesus as the Christ. "The huge folios which develop the truth of Christianity" (S.K.) were incinerated in…
- Bierkergaard: The Writings of Soren Kierkegaard
The Established Order(s)
The Established Order(s) in the the U.S., where ideology trumps truth. And trumpery is practiced in spades by the Right and Left political factions that are…
- Bierkergaard: The Writings of Soren Kierkegaard
Collision of Piety With The Established Order
"The Pharisees and the Scribes here represent the established order...which had become empty externalism." S.K. Matthew 15: 1-12
- Bierkergaard: The Writings of Soren Kierkegaard
The Loftiness & The Lowliness
Kierkegaard writes that humanity is offended by Christ's assertion that He is God. And if God, how could He be a lowly man? "The God-man is the paradox, the…
- Bierkergaard: The Writings of Soren Kierkegaard
Fear Not The World
Soren tells us not to fear the enemy within or outside. "Blessed is he/she who is not offended in Him but believes." Fear taking offense at the Cross.