What do you think?
Rate this book
Parables of Kierkegaard (Kierkegaard's Writings) Paperback - September 1989
The description for this book, Parables of Kierkegaard, will be forthcoming.
Paperback
First published January 1, 1978
33 people are currently reading
578 people want to read
About the author
Søren Kierkegaard
1,099Ìýbooks6,110ÌýfollowersSøren Aabye Kierkegaard was a prolific 19th century Danish philosopher and theologian. Kierkegaard strongly criticised both the Hegelianism of his time and what he saw as the empty formalities of the Church of Denmark. Much of his work deals with religious themes such as faith in God, the institution of the Christian Church, Christian ethics and theology, and the emotions and feelings of individuals when faced with life choices. His early work was written under various pseudonyms who present their own distinctive viewpoints in a complex dialogue.
Kierkegaard left the task of discovering the meaning of his works to the reader, because "the task must be made difficult, for only the difficult inspires the noble-hearted". Scholars have interpreted Kierkegaard variously as an existentialist, neo-orthodoxist, postmodernist, humanist, and individualist.
Crossing the boundaries of philosophy, theology, psychology, and literature, he is an influential figure in contemporary thought.
Kierkegaard left the task of discovering the meaning of his works to the reader, because "the task must be made difficult, for only the difficult inspires the noble-hearted". Scholars have interpreted Kierkegaard variously as an existentialist, neo-orthodoxist, postmodernist, humanist, and individualist.
Crossing the boundaries of philosophy, theology, psychology, and literature, he is an influential figure in contemporary thought.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
December 25, 2022
"Every man is an exception".---Soren Kierkegaard. The master of irony, the most tragic Christian who ever lived, not excluding Christ, Kierkegaard was a master, just like his master, Jesus, at explaining existentialist Christianity by a parable. Animals, mythical creatures, women (who made Soren suffer as much as his religion), mountains; there is no natural or legendary object Kierkegaard could not use to illustrate how to keep the faith in a world where God did not make personal appearances anymore and reason, and especially systems built on logic, killed individuality. (Did I mention the Big K once sat in on Hegel's lectures at the University of Berlin and came to loathe the man and his philosophy?) The philosophical gifts Kierkegaard bequeathed us, alienation and the all-consuming presence of irony, are timeless. If you have never read S.K. I suggest starting either with the parables or his collected JOURNALS. Kierkegaard is terrifying and liberating at the same time.
June 7, 2016
The Needlewoman
How should one listen to an edifying discourse?
How should one listen to an edifying discourse?
"When a woman makes an altar cloth, so far as she is able, she makes every flower as lovely as the graceful flowers of the field, as far as she is able, every star as sparkling as the glistening stars of the night. She withholds nothing, but uses the most precious things she possesses. She sells off every other claim upon her life that she may purchase the most uninterrupted and favourable time of day and night for her one and only, her beloved work. But when the cloth is finished and put to its sacred use: then she is deeply distressed if someone should make the mistake of looking at her art, instead of the meaning of the cloth; or make the mistake of looking at a defect, instead of at the meaning of the cloth. For she could not work the sacred meaning into the cloth itself, nor could she sew it on the cloth as though it were one more ornament."
July 18, 2016
kierkagaard'ı bir deha olarak görenlerdenim. bu kitapta çeşitli konular hakkında farklı mecralardaki fikirleri ve yorumları derlenmiş. uzun felsefi metinleri okumaktan sıkılan kişiler için birebir, her sayfası, her cümlesi ayrıca saatlerce tartışılabilir. günümüzün koşturmacası, hızı ve geçiciliği içinde durup düşünmediğimiz, olduğu gibi kabul ettiğimiz birçok şeyi irdelemeye sevk ediyor. okurken sürekli artık hiçbir şeyi düşünmediğimi fark ettim; ki bayağı yıpratıcı bir tespit bu. metinlerin bir araya getirilişini ve sıralamasını zayıf buldum sadece. Onun dışında kafa açacağı kesin.
August 21, 2023
TREASURED PASSAGES:
“What happens to those who try to warn the present age?�"
"What is a poet? An unhappy [one] who in [their] heart harbors a deep anguish, but whose lips are so fashioned that the moans and cried which pass over them are transformed into ravishing music. ... [Their] cries could not reach the tyrant's ears so as to strike terror into his heart; when they reached his ears they sounded like sweet music. ...May new sufferings torment your soul, but may your lips be fashioned as before; for the cried would only distress us, but the music, the music, is delightful.' ... I would rather be a swineherd, understood by the swine, than a poet misunderstood by [persons]."
"he was to such a degree overwhelmed by fullness of ideas that it was impossible for him to put down anything on paper, because he could not write fast enough."
""Is boredom a perennial human condition? The gods were bored, and so they created [human]. ... [Boredom] entered the world, and increased in proportion to the increase of population. ... [Then] the population of the world increased, and the peoples were bored en masse."
"Everything became interpretation"
"in an age without passion, in a reflective age, it would be otherwise."
"Does despair consume itself?"
"she is in despair over herself. ... [This] self is now a torment to her when it has to be a self without "him" [her lover]"
"To despair over oneself, in despair to will to be rid of oneself, is the formula for all despair.""
"When the task is becoming oneself, to what shall we compare the individual who does not even recognize that [she/he] has, or is, a self?"
"When I was young, I forgot how to laugh ... ; when I was older, I opened my eyes and beheld reality, at which I began to laugh, and since then I have not stopped laughing."
"When despair intensifies, how may it affect the whole of one's existence?�
"Why is the pursuit of happiness so elusive?"
"'One must go further, one must go further.' This impulse to go further is an ancient thing in the world."
"Imagine a [human] ... of whom was never seen and never shall be seen; ... [this human]has lived hitherto unacquainted with the world, protected by favorable conditions ... . "
"if that does not help you, no [human] can help you."
"If someone talked with a wise [human], and immediately upon the first words of the wise [human], [one] interrupted [the other] with [their] thanks, because [they] now needed no more help: what would this show other than that [they] did not talk with a wise [human], but with a wise [human] whom [they themselves] transformed into a fool?"
"eternity holds audit over the consciences. Substantially everyone arrives in eternity bringing with [one] and delivering the most accurate account of every least insignificance which [one] has committed or has left undone."
"Is knowledge charged when it is applied?"
The artist: "one who by bringing a certain something with [them] found then and there what the much-travelled artist did not find anywhere in the world, perhaps because [one] did not bring a certain something with [themselves] !... Would it not be sad, too, if what is intended to beautify life could only be a curse upon it, so that art, instead of making life beautiful for us, only fastidiously discovers that not one of us is beautiful."
"What is the relation of eternity and the moment? ... [The] thought that the instant is commensurable with eternity, because the instant of destruction expresses at the same instant eternity."
"When the pantomimic play was in full swing, and the spectators were following the play with keen expectancy of what was to come after, the actors suddenly came to a stop and remained motionless, as though they were petrified in the pantomimic expression of the instant."
"Every individual in this innumerable throng is by [their] differences a particular something; [one] exhibits a definiteness but essentially [one] is something other than this–but this we do not get to see here in life. Here we see only what role the individual plays and how [one] does it. It is like a play. But when the curtain falls, ... they are all quite alike, all one and the same: actors. � And when in death the curtain falls on the stage of actuality ... , then they also are all one; they are human beings. All are that which they essentially were, something we did not see because of the difference we see; they are human beings. � The stage of art is like an enchanted world. But just suppose that some evening a common absent-mindedness confused all the actors so they thought they really were what they were representing. Would this not be, in contrast to the enchantment of art, what one might call the enchantment of an evil spirit, a bewitchment? And likewise suppose that in the enchantment of actuality ... our fundamental ideas become confused so that we thought ourselves essentially to be the roles we play. Alas, but is this not the case? It seems to be forgotten that the distinctions of earthly existence are only like an actor's costume or like a travelling cloak and that every individual should watchfully and carefully keep the fastening cords of this outer garment loosely tied, never in obstinate knots, � so that in the moment of transformation the garment can easily be cast off, and yet we all have enough knowledge of art to be offended if an actor, when [they are] supposed to cast off [their] disguise in the moment of transformation, runs out on the stage before getting the cords loose."
"the pathos of grieving loneliness""
"He would stare more and more anxiously, but the more he stared, the less he would see. His eyes would sometimes fill with tears; but the oftener this happened the less he would see. ... [The] writing would become fainter and more illegible, until at last the paper itself would crumble away, and nothing would be left to him except the tears in his eyes."
""Can medicine abolish the anxious conscience? ... [In] our time it is the physician who exercises the cure of souls.
"this anxious dead of yours is ... like a revenge!"
"He did not become another man, but he became two men, who could not be contained in the one man."
"Should ethical actions always proceed 'on principle'?"
"To what shall we compare an author who cannot ever arrive at a conclusion?"
"One knows instances of people who, embarrassed and embarrassing, may remain sitting in one's home a whole hour merely because they are embarrassed to leave"
The Man Who Walked Backwards: "he maintains an orientation towards the good, he is turned towards the good, and with this orientation towards the good he moves backwards farther and farther away from it. With every renewed intention and promise it seems as if he takes a step forward, and yet he not only remains standing still but really takes a step backward."
"To what shall we compare the conceit of modernity that hungers for instant recognition prior to any actual achievement? ... No one is satisfied with doing something definite, every one wants to feel flattered by reflection with the illusion of having discovered at the very least a new continent."
"Nothing ever happens but there is immediate publicity everywhere."
"It is my joy that the female sex, far from being more imperfect than man, is on the contrary the most perfect."
"Necessity ... teaches the gods to surpass themselves in inventiveness."
"Is the task of becoming a self ever completed? ... Suppose [one] were assigned the task of entertaining [themselves] for an entire day, and [they finish] this task of self-entertainment as early as noon: then [their] celerity would mot be meritorious. So also when life constitutes the task. To be finished with life before life has finished with one, is precisely not to have finished the task."
"How may the despair of one collude quietly with the despair of another?"
"There was once a father and a son. A son is like a mirror in which the father behold himself, and for the son the father too is like a mirror in which he beholds himself in the time to come."
"The stage is eternity, and the listener, if [he/she] is the true listener ... stands before God during the talk. The prompter whispers to the actor what [he/she] is to say, but the actor's repetition of it is the main concern ... . ... [The] main concern is earnestness: that the listeners by ... , with ... , and to themselves, in the silence before God, may speak with the help of this address."
"persistent spiritual self-rejection" : "the sorry and ludicrous condition of the majority ... , that in their own house they prefer to live in the cellar. The soulish-bodily synthesis in every [human] is planned with a view to being spirit, such is the building; but the [human] prefers to dwell in the cellar, that is, in the determinants of sensuousness. And not only does [one] prefer to dwell in the cellar; no, [one] loves that to such a degree that [one] becomes furious if anyone would propose to [them] to occupy the bel étage which stands empty at [their] disposition–for in fact [one dwells] in [their] own house."
"How much time may we justifiably spend on the education of the human spirit?"
"How does one obtain an impression of the absolute?"
"to stand still is an act, an effort, the most strenuous effort"
"Ah, no! The time is not identical."
"My thoughts terrified me, my thoughts in my mind, for my mouth was bound, and no one could perceive anything but a voice in likeness as a beast's."
"What is the strange power of possibility, that it may affect one's entire life, even if it only a distant possibility of an uncertain event?"
"One looks about in vain for that social posciamur, ... where every instant one can get rid of oneself, ... where one feels so deserted and imprisoned in the quietness which isolates, where one cannot get rid of oneself, where on all sides one is surrounded by nonconductors. � The big warehouses contain nothing and bring in nothing, for though Echo is a very quiet lodger, yet in the way of business and rent no owner is the better for it. In the populous quarters life is far from being extinct, and yet it is so far from being loud that the quiet human murmur suggests to me at least the buzzing of summer out in the country. � [Memory] is sad out there among the empty storehouses, and in the overpopulated streets the sight is sad where the eye discovers only an idyl of poverty and wretchedness."
“The so-called shrewd people are often stupid enough to believe everything a madman says, and often stupid enough to believe that everything he says is madness ... ."
"he took with him a possibility, and this possibility pursued him, and he pursued this possibility in his passionate investigation, and this possibility brooded in his silence, and this possibility it was that set in manifold motion the features of his face ... and this possibility was that another being owed its life to him. ... [What] made him a lunatic was the fact that every obvious way to discovery was cut off from him ... ; and what made his lunacy so dialectical was the fact that he did not so much as know whether his notion was a result of his illness, a fevered imagination, or whether death had actually come to the aid of his memory with a recollection of reality."
"It seemed to him sometimes that the object of his search might be very far off, sometimes that it was so near to him that he was sensible only of his own contrition ... ."
"Only one who is eternally immutable can be in this manner so still."
"one suffers secretlyd and alone, yet freely for others"
"How disgusting you are with your corrupted flesh, a pestilence to every living thing, avaunt from me, you abomination, betake yourself to the tombs."
"Does not an artist conceal himself in order to be a secret witness of how his work of art is admired?"
Why must I fill the desert with my cry and be company for the wild beasts and abbreviate the time by my howling? This is no exclamation, it is a question; I out the question to [God] who [Herself] has said that it is not good for a [human] to be without society. Is this my society?"
"he hates existence, he curses [humans], he would avenge himself ... ."
"I will castaway the remainder of the ointment so that I never may be tempted."
“What is human compassion after all! To whom is it rightly due to unless to the unfortunate, and how is it paid to [them]? The impoverished [human] falls into the hands of the usurer, who at the last helps [them] into prison as a slave ... ."
"Hear the prayer of [him/her] whose body is infected and impure, ... hear [him/her] if for all that his heart was not tainted."
�'I choose this one thing, that I may always have the laugh on my side.' Not one of the gods said a word; on the contrary, they all began to laugh. From that I concluded that my wish was granted, and found that the gods knew how to express themselves with taste; for it would hardly have been suitable for them to have answered gravely: 'Thy wish granted.'"
"'It is not worth wasting one's breath on it.' No sooner said than done. She blows, and behold the vocalization disappears ... ."
"The ethical development of the individual constitutes the little private theater where God is indeed a spectator, but where the individual is also a spectator from time to time, although essentially [one] is an actor, whose task is not to deceive but to reveal, just as all ethical development consists in becoming apparent before God."
“What happens to those who try to warn the present age?�"
"What is a poet? An unhappy [one] who in [their] heart harbors a deep anguish, but whose lips are so fashioned that the moans and cried which pass over them are transformed into ravishing music. ... [Their] cries could not reach the tyrant's ears so as to strike terror into his heart; when they reached his ears they sounded like sweet music. ...May new sufferings torment your soul, but may your lips be fashioned as before; for the cried would only distress us, but the music, the music, is delightful.' ... I would rather be a swineherd, understood by the swine, than a poet misunderstood by [persons]."
"he was to such a degree overwhelmed by fullness of ideas that it was impossible for him to put down anything on paper, because he could not write fast enough."
""Is boredom a perennial human condition? The gods were bored, and so they created [human]. ... [Boredom] entered the world, and increased in proportion to the increase of population. ... [Then] the population of the world increased, and the peoples were bored en masse."
"Everything became interpretation"
"in an age without passion, in a reflective age, it would be otherwise."
"Does despair consume itself?"
"she is in despair over herself. ... [This] self is now a torment to her when it has to be a self without "him" [her lover]"
"To despair over oneself, in despair to will to be rid of oneself, is the formula for all despair.""
"When the task is becoming oneself, to what shall we compare the individual who does not even recognize that [she/he] has, or is, a self?"
"When I was young, I forgot how to laugh ... ; when I was older, I opened my eyes and beheld reality, at which I began to laugh, and since then I have not stopped laughing."
"When despair intensifies, how may it affect the whole of one's existence?�
"Why is the pursuit of happiness so elusive?"
"'One must go further, one must go further.' This impulse to go further is an ancient thing in the world."
"Imagine a [human] ... of whom was never seen and never shall be seen; ... [this human]has lived hitherto unacquainted with the world, protected by favorable conditions ... . "
"if that does not help you, no [human] can help you."
"If someone talked with a wise [human], and immediately upon the first words of the wise [human], [one] interrupted [the other] with [their] thanks, because [they] now needed no more help: what would this show other than that [they] did not talk with a wise [human], but with a wise [human] whom [they themselves] transformed into a fool?"
"eternity holds audit over the consciences. Substantially everyone arrives in eternity bringing with [one] and delivering the most accurate account of every least insignificance which [one] has committed or has left undone."
"Is knowledge charged when it is applied?"
The artist: "one who by bringing a certain something with [them] found then and there what the much-travelled artist did not find anywhere in the world, perhaps because [one] did not bring a certain something with [themselves] !... Would it not be sad, too, if what is intended to beautify life could only be a curse upon it, so that art, instead of making life beautiful for us, only fastidiously discovers that not one of us is beautiful."
"What is the relation of eternity and the moment? ... [The] thought that the instant is commensurable with eternity, because the instant of destruction expresses at the same instant eternity."
"When the pantomimic play was in full swing, and the spectators were following the play with keen expectancy of what was to come after, the actors suddenly came to a stop and remained motionless, as though they were petrified in the pantomimic expression of the instant."
"Every individual in this innumerable throng is by [their] differences a particular something; [one] exhibits a definiteness but essentially [one] is something other than this–but this we do not get to see here in life. Here we see only what role the individual plays and how [one] does it. It is like a play. But when the curtain falls, ... they are all quite alike, all one and the same: actors. � And when in death the curtain falls on the stage of actuality ... , then they also are all one; they are human beings. All are that which they essentially were, something we did not see because of the difference we see; they are human beings. � The stage of art is like an enchanted world. But just suppose that some evening a common absent-mindedness confused all the actors so they thought they really were what they were representing. Would this not be, in contrast to the enchantment of art, what one might call the enchantment of an evil spirit, a bewitchment? And likewise suppose that in the enchantment of actuality ... our fundamental ideas become confused so that we thought ourselves essentially to be the roles we play. Alas, but is this not the case? It seems to be forgotten that the distinctions of earthly existence are only like an actor's costume or like a travelling cloak and that every individual should watchfully and carefully keep the fastening cords of this outer garment loosely tied, never in obstinate knots, � so that in the moment of transformation the garment can easily be cast off, and yet we all have enough knowledge of art to be offended if an actor, when [they are] supposed to cast off [their] disguise in the moment of transformation, runs out on the stage before getting the cords loose."
"the pathos of grieving loneliness""
"He would stare more and more anxiously, but the more he stared, the less he would see. His eyes would sometimes fill with tears; but the oftener this happened the less he would see. ... [The] writing would become fainter and more illegible, until at last the paper itself would crumble away, and nothing would be left to him except the tears in his eyes."
""Can medicine abolish the anxious conscience? ... [In] our time it is the physician who exercises the cure of souls.
"this anxious dead of yours is ... like a revenge!"
"He did not become another man, but he became two men, who could not be contained in the one man."
"Should ethical actions always proceed 'on principle'?"
"To what shall we compare an author who cannot ever arrive at a conclusion?"
"One knows instances of people who, embarrassed and embarrassing, may remain sitting in one's home a whole hour merely because they are embarrassed to leave"
The Man Who Walked Backwards: "he maintains an orientation towards the good, he is turned towards the good, and with this orientation towards the good he moves backwards farther and farther away from it. With every renewed intention and promise it seems as if he takes a step forward, and yet he not only remains standing still but really takes a step backward."
"To what shall we compare the conceit of modernity that hungers for instant recognition prior to any actual achievement? ... No one is satisfied with doing something definite, every one wants to feel flattered by reflection with the illusion of having discovered at the very least a new continent."
"Nothing ever happens but there is immediate publicity everywhere."
"It is my joy that the female sex, far from being more imperfect than man, is on the contrary the most perfect."
"Necessity ... teaches the gods to surpass themselves in inventiveness."
"Is the task of becoming a self ever completed? ... Suppose [one] were assigned the task of entertaining [themselves] for an entire day, and [they finish] this task of self-entertainment as early as noon: then [their] celerity would mot be meritorious. So also when life constitutes the task. To be finished with life before life has finished with one, is precisely not to have finished the task."
"How may the despair of one collude quietly with the despair of another?"
"There was once a father and a son. A son is like a mirror in which the father behold himself, and for the son the father too is like a mirror in which he beholds himself in the time to come."
"The stage is eternity, and the listener, if [he/she] is the true listener ... stands before God during the talk. The prompter whispers to the actor what [he/she] is to say, but the actor's repetition of it is the main concern ... . ... [The] main concern is earnestness: that the listeners by ... , with ... , and to themselves, in the silence before God, may speak with the help of this address."
"persistent spiritual self-rejection" : "the sorry and ludicrous condition of the majority ... , that in their own house they prefer to live in the cellar. The soulish-bodily synthesis in every [human] is planned with a view to being spirit, such is the building; but the [human] prefers to dwell in the cellar, that is, in the determinants of sensuousness. And not only does [one] prefer to dwell in the cellar; no, [one] loves that to such a degree that [one] becomes furious if anyone would propose to [them] to occupy the bel étage which stands empty at [their] disposition–for in fact [one dwells] in [their] own house."
"How much time may we justifiably spend on the education of the human spirit?"
"How does one obtain an impression of the absolute?"
"to stand still is an act, an effort, the most strenuous effort"
"Ah, no! The time is not identical."
"My thoughts terrified me, my thoughts in my mind, for my mouth was bound, and no one could perceive anything but a voice in likeness as a beast's."
"What is the strange power of possibility, that it may affect one's entire life, even if it only a distant possibility of an uncertain event?"
"One looks about in vain for that social posciamur, ... where every instant one can get rid of oneself, ... where one feels so deserted and imprisoned in the quietness which isolates, where one cannot get rid of oneself, where on all sides one is surrounded by nonconductors. � The big warehouses contain nothing and bring in nothing, for though Echo is a very quiet lodger, yet in the way of business and rent no owner is the better for it. In the populous quarters life is far from being extinct, and yet it is so far from being loud that the quiet human murmur suggests to me at least the buzzing of summer out in the country. � [Memory] is sad out there among the empty storehouses, and in the overpopulated streets the sight is sad where the eye discovers only an idyl of poverty and wretchedness."
“The so-called shrewd people are often stupid enough to believe everything a madman says, and often stupid enough to believe that everything he says is madness ... ."
"he took with him a possibility, and this possibility pursued him, and he pursued this possibility in his passionate investigation, and this possibility brooded in his silence, and this possibility it was that set in manifold motion the features of his face ... and this possibility was that another being owed its life to him. ... [What] made him a lunatic was the fact that every obvious way to discovery was cut off from him ... ; and what made his lunacy so dialectical was the fact that he did not so much as know whether his notion was a result of his illness, a fevered imagination, or whether death had actually come to the aid of his memory with a recollection of reality."
"It seemed to him sometimes that the object of his search might be very far off, sometimes that it was so near to him that he was sensible only of his own contrition ... ."
"Only one who is eternally immutable can be in this manner so still."
"one suffers secretlyd and alone, yet freely for others"
"How disgusting you are with your corrupted flesh, a pestilence to every living thing, avaunt from me, you abomination, betake yourself to the tombs."
"Does not an artist conceal himself in order to be a secret witness of how his work of art is admired?"
Why must I fill the desert with my cry and be company for the wild beasts and abbreviate the time by my howling? This is no exclamation, it is a question; I out the question to [God] who [Herself] has said that it is not good for a [human] to be without society. Is this my society?"
"he hates existence, he curses [humans], he would avenge himself ... ."
"I will castaway the remainder of the ointment so that I never may be tempted."
“What is human compassion after all! To whom is it rightly due to unless to the unfortunate, and how is it paid to [them]? The impoverished [human] falls into the hands of the usurer, who at the last helps [them] into prison as a slave ... ."
"Hear the prayer of [him/her] whose body is infected and impure, ... hear [him/her] if for all that his heart was not tainted."
�'I choose this one thing, that I may always have the laugh on my side.' Not one of the gods said a word; on the contrary, they all began to laugh. From that I concluded that my wish was granted, and found that the gods knew how to express themselves with taste; for it would hardly have been suitable for them to have answered gravely: 'Thy wish granted.'"
"'It is not worth wasting one's breath on it.' No sooner said than done. She blows, and behold the vocalization disappears ... ."
"The ethical development of the individual constitutes the little private theater where God is indeed a spectator, but where the individual is also a spectator from time to time, although essentially [one] is an actor, whose task is not to deceive but to reveal, just as all ethical development consists in becoming apparent before God."
March 17, 2021
I've had this book on my shelves for nearly two decades, diving in and out as the mood struck me, but I decided to read through it in a systematic way. Kierkegaard is best experienced as he intended it, but Thomas Oden does good work here, organizing some of the better "parables" (the intro ably and concisely explains why this term is used) and providing a list of the others in the back (many great bits are omitted, and all I can think is that translation rights were hard to acquire...otherwise why cap this at 130 pages and a handful of interesting illustrations? ah, university presses). Most of the heaviest hitters are courtesy of Stages on Life's Way, but you won't be disappointed by the selection. Even all the empty space on many of the pages serves the function of hammering this stuff into the working memory, "commonplace book" style. The choicest cuts? I'd say "A Leper's Soliloquy," "A Possibility" (about as good as narrative gets vis a vis Kierkegaard), "Solomon's Dream," and "The King and the Maiden" occupy the first rank, but many of the shorter entries are more easily recalled (and heard frequently, perhaps too frequently, in the style of those 2-3 sentences of Walter Benjamin that the "smart set" quotes all the time). At any rate, well worth keeping on the shelf, and near the writing desk, as a reference of sorts (I've got this, the Ladder of Divine Ascent, The Way, and a few other such texts ready at hand).
September 3, 2016
I can't help but think that Kierkegaard would have been the greatest thinker maybe of all time if he hadn't expended so much of his intellectual efforts in attempting to justify his belief in God. These parables, collected from throughout his many writings, show a mind both brilliant and conflicted, and offer an excellent and accessible entryway into his broader philosophies. I don't think the parables stand alone quite as well as the editor of the book implies, but its still worth a read, especially for those who might not take the time to read one of Kierkegaard's complete works.
January 1, 2009
Kept my Attention - 5
Accessible - 1
Well-Written - 3
Important - 5
Must Read - 3
Accessible - 1
Well-Written - 3
Important - 5
Must Read - 3
November 6, 2013
Editor Thomas C. Oden discovered the idea of compiling Kierkegaard’s parables during a conversation with another scholar. This volume gives Kierkegaard’s parables a wider audience, as few non-philosophers read the philosopher’s works in their entirety.
Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) remains one of the strangest fish within the school of Western philosophy, due to his many unusual traits, including: his use of many different pseudonyms within his works, his often surprising stance as a Christian Existentialist, and his willingness to himself offer some of the most devastating critiques of Christianity imaginable. The fact that he wrote in Danish also slowed his reception, and it wasn’t really until the turn of the twentieth century that Kierkegaard became more in vogue; as, to paraphrase the entry on Kierkegaard in the hilariously elliptical work An Incomplete Education, what once seemed like one man’s personal problem took on more universal significance during the intellectually dark time of the fin de siecle. In one passage of Fear and Trembling Kierkegaard even roughly argues that one should believe in Christianity, precisely because it is the most absurd idea imaginable!
Kierkegaard’s parables, collected in this volume from throughout his work, are short stories (often less than a page), used to illustrate some point of his theory. Although Kierkegaard propounded his own philosophy, which is now termed Christian Existentialism (though Kierkegaard never termed it that), his arguments often target others, such as the hypocrisy of nominally Christian societies, or Hegel’s program of systematizing "the spirit of history."
See more at
Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) remains one of the strangest fish within the school of Western philosophy, due to his many unusual traits, including: his use of many different pseudonyms within his works, his often surprising stance as a Christian Existentialist, and his willingness to himself offer some of the most devastating critiques of Christianity imaginable. The fact that he wrote in Danish also slowed his reception, and it wasn’t really until the turn of the twentieth century that Kierkegaard became more in vogue; as, to paraphrase the entry on Kierkegaard in the hilariously elliptical work An Incomplete Education, what once seemed like one man’s personal problem took on more universal significance during the intellectually dark time of the fin de siecle. In one passage of Fear and Trembling Kierkegaard even roughly argues that one should believe in Christianity, precisely because it is the most absurd idea imaginable!
Kierkegaard’s parables, collected in this volume from throughout his work, are short stories (often less than a page), used to illustrate some point of his theory. Although Kierkegaard propounded his own philosophy, which is now termed Christian Existentialism (though Kierkegaard never termed it that), his arguments often target others, such as the hypocrisy of nominally Christian societies, or Hegel’s program of systematizing "the spirit of history."
See more at
July 23, 2012
'' Hayatın anlamının geçinmek olduğunu gördüm ve hedefi de yüksek bir mevki edinmekti; aşkın rüyası mirasyedi bir kadınla evlenmekti; dostluğun nimeti dar günde yardım almaktı; bilgelik, çoğunluğun olmasını istediği şeydi; coşku nutuk atmaktaydı; cesaret on dolar kaybetme riskini göze almaktı; şefkat -sofra başındayken, '' Masaya buyurun '' demekti; dindarlık senede bir komünyona katılmaktı. Bunu gördüm ve kahkahalarla güldüm. ''
May 13, 2023
better to read these in their original context imo
October 16, 2013
My favorite was the one about the fox and the grapes. Silly foxes!
January 28, 2021
"Parables of Kierkegaard" is a remarkable compilation of some of the most vivid and representative parables in the Danish religious author's entire oeuvre.
The introductory chapter by Thomas C. Oden is worth paying particular attention to as it unpacks, in a very compelling manner, the possible reasons Kierkegaard might have for making use of the parable in his authorship: "[T]hey serve as valuable polemical weapons for combat with the philosophical assumptions of his day; Kierkegaard has an unremitting love, and an extraordinary gift, for story-telling that manifests itself in every aspect of his multifaceted career as a writer; the story format is necessary for implementing his highly explicit method of indirect communication, which he regards as a central feature of his entire authorship; through the parables he seeks to actualise what the whole authorship is after, to facilitate the birth of selfhood; and of all his many different kinds of writing, the parables lend themselves most easily to memory and oral repetition." (xvi)
There is a sentence in Oden's introduction which gave me pause, "Soon you realise that it is not you who are interpreting the parable but the parable that is interpreting you." (ix) It might very well be the case that different people might go through this book, as they might Kierkegaard's many works, and derive very different uses from it - all of which stem from and reflect their individual existential interests and concerns.
As an exercise in self-reflection, I thought that it would be helpful to list down the parables which resonated with me on a deeper level: these are "The Critical Apparatus," "The Knight's Choice," "The Laughter of Parmeniscus," "The Tyrant-Historian," "The Confessor and the Penitent," "The Two Artists," "The King and the Maiden," "The Costume of the Actor," "The Candidate Seeking," "The Rigorous Coachman," "Kernels and Shells," "Luther's Return," "The Letter," "The Early Finish," "The Prompter," "Nebuchadnezzar," and "The Wife of the Orientalist."
The introductory chapter by Thomas C. Oden is worth paying particular attention to as it unpacks, in a very compelling manner, the possible reasons Kierkegaard might have for making use of the parable in his authorship: "[T]hey serve as valuable polemical weapons for combat with the philosophical assumptions of his day; Kierkegaard has an unremitting love, and an extraordinary gift, for story-telling that manifests itself in every aspect of his multifaceted career as a writer; the story format is necessary for implementing his highly explicit method of indirect communication, which he regards as a central feature of his entire authorship; through the parables he seeks to actualise what the whole authorship is after, to facilitate the birth of selfhood; and of all his many different kinds of writing, the parables lend themselves most easily to memory and oral repetition." (xvi)
There is a sentence in Oden's introduction which gave me pause, "Soon you realise that it is not you who are interpreting the parable but the parable that is interpreting you." (ix) It might very well be the case that different people might go through this book, as they might Kierkegaard's many works, and derive very different uses from it - all of which stem from and reflect their individual existential interests and concerns.
As an exercise in self-reflection, I thought that it would be helpful to list down the parables which resonated with me on a deeper level: these are "The Critical Apparatus," "The Knight's Choice," "The Laughter of Parmeniscus," "The Tyrant-Historian," "The Confessor and the Penitent," "The Two Artists," "The King and the Maiden," "The Costume of the Actor," "The Candidate Seeking," "The Rigorous Coachman," "Kernels and Shells," "Luther's Return," "The Letter," "The Early Finish," "The Prompter," "Nebuchadnezzar," and "The Wife of the Orientalist."
March 24, 2019
Parables of Kierkegaard delivers what it promises; a collection of Parables written by Kierkegaard. It is edited by Thomas C Oden. Basically what Oden did is go through all of Kierkegaard’s works and found the best little stories and parables that he could and condensed them into this slim little package.
The book works like this; the parable’s title is given, the gist of the parable is shown, next the actual body of the parable is contained, and finally, the listing of where the parable can be found is given. Sometimes the parable might have a little illustration to go alongside it. Not all of the stories have that though, I would say about a fifth of them do.
There isn’t really much more to say about the book. Normally I would be confused as to where the parable came from since it doesn’t have any surrounding text explaining it. However, as I mentioned before, there is a little blurb at the beginning that gives you the gist. Also, the final footnote indicates where the parable was drawn from.
I would be hard pressed to ask for more from this work. If you are studying Kierkegaard or are merely a fan of his works, then this book is pretty good. The collection goes a bit heavy on religion, but it was edited by a Professor of Theology so I tried to keep that in mind.
The book works like this; the parable’s title is given, the gist of the parable is shown, next the actual body of the parable is contained, and finally, the listing of where the parable can be found is given. Sometimes the parable might have a little illustration to go alongside it. Not all of the stories have that though, I would say about a fifth of them do.
There isn’t really much more to say about the book. Normally I would be confused as to where the parable came from since it doesn’t have any surrounding text explaining it. However, as I mentioned before, there is a little blurb at the beginning that gives you the gist. Also, the final footnote indicates where the parable was drawn from.
I would be hard pressed to ask for more from this work. If you are studying Kierkegaard or are merely a fan of his works, then this book is pretty good. The collection goes a bit heavy on religion, but it was edited by a Professor of Theology so I tried to keep that in mind.
December 29, 2020
Eye opening. I spent a long time not understanding what this book was or how to read it. It is really not to be read in the usual sense, and I made no progressin trying to do so. Eventually, I got to the point where I would read one parable per day, no more, and ruminate on it during the day. Over time, I became more interested in this Kierkegaard and what he was trying to accomplish, so I began an online course which is proving edifying. I also finished another book of adjacent interest (Time of the Magicians) and started another (Hiking with Nietzsche). I think the key to success with this book, this school of thought, is continuous and diverse focus. I feel that I will regularly open this volume and revisit a parable from time to time
January 15, 2025
Recommend if you are interested in Kierkegaard's parables.
Here is first paragraph of my favorite one: “If the jewel which every one desired to possess lay far out on a frozen lake where the ice was very thin, watched over by the danger of death, while, closer in, the ice was perfectly safe, then in a passionate age the crowds would applaud the courage of the man who ventured out, they would tremble for him and with him in the danger of his decisive action, they would grieve over him if he were drowned, they would make a god of him if he secured the prize. But in an age without passion, in a reflective age, it would be otherwise. People would think each other clever in agreeing that it was unreasonable and not even worth while to venture so far out. And in this way they would transform daring and enthusiasm into a feat of skill, so as to do something, for after all ‘something must be done."
Be bold... sometimes safety can be dangerous.
Here is first paragraph of my favorite one: “If the jewel which every one desired to possess lay far out on a frozen lake where the ice was very thin, watched over by the danger of death, while, closer in, the ice was perfectly safe, then in a passionate age the crowds would applaud the courage of the man who ventured out, they would tremble for him and with him in the danger of his decisive action, they would grieve over him if he were drowned, they would make a god of him if he secured the prize. But in an age without passion, in a reflective age, it would be otherwise. People would think each other clever in agreeing that it was unreasonable and not even worth while to venture so far out. And in this way they would transform daring and enthusiasm into a feat of skill, so as to do something, for after all ‘something must be done."
Be bold... sometimes safety can be dangerous.
November 19, 2020
I was not so impressed by this, though of course I shall have to read more Kierkegaard before making up my mind. Some of the parables, such as ‘The Victims of Phalaris� struck me as really immature, something a Philosophy student would write in grad school. I did not find profound insight in any of these parables, but there were interesting nuggets and perspectives here and there. I would like to read another of Kierkegaard’s works before making up my mind about him, because it may be that his full texts have more meat on them.
April 3, 2019
I’m interested in Kierkegaard but this was not a good place to start. The parables are excerpted from his larger works and are hard to comprehend out of context. It was difficult to understand what point was being made by the different stories.
I enjoy SK’s writing style. Based on this and what I’ve heard about him from other sources, I’m excited to read his books. This was like a nice sample but now I want the large morsel. The drawings were nice.
I enjoy SK’s writing style. Based on this and what I’ve heard about him from other sources, I’m excited to read his books. This was like a nice sample but now I want the large morsel. The drawings were nice.
December 30, 2023
Best used as an a guiding force to decide where to start or continue with kierkegaard. The organization of the parables don't really have a guiding thread woven between them, and it makes for a fragmented read. This is the purpose of the book, but it is not smooth to read through.
Better used to find parables that resonates with you and then read the book it comes from. There is too much context missing here to really dive into his work.
Better used to find parables that resonates with you and then read the book it comes from. There is too much context missing here to really dive into his work.
May 15, 2020
A book like this is so helpful to get a digestible essence of Kierkegaard’s intimidating oeuvre. Some of the parables feel odd stripped of their greater context, but for the most part all of these choices feel self-contained and immediately gratifying to read. I can’t think of an easier way to connect with SK’s roguish wit, subversive charm, and rhetorical prowess.
June 25, 2023
birkaç alıntı neticesinde kierkegaard okumak istediğim bir isim olmuştu fakat ya o alıntılar özenle seçilmişler ya da benim için bu kitap yanlış bir seçimdi.
bir şeyler anlatmış ama ne anlatmış, neden anlatmış gerçekten anlayamadım. düşündürten bir kitaptı, hakkını yiyemem; neden yazdığını çok düşündüm okurken mesela! altını çizdiğim kısımlar oldu ama bütüne bakacak olursak kabaca çok 'boş' yapmış demek istiyorum. başka bir kitabına bir şans daha vereceğim ama bu kesinlikle okunmasa da olur...
bir şeyler anlatmış ama ne anlatmış, neden anlatmış gerçekten anlayamadım. düşündürten bir kitaptı, hakkını yiyemem; neden yazdığını çok düşündüm okurken mesela! altını çizdiğim kısımlar oldu ama bütüne bakacak olursak kabaca çok 'boş' yapmış demek istiyorum. başka bir kitabına bir şans daha vereceğim ama bu kesinlikle okunmasa da olur...
March 12, 2017
“Pekâlâ ben size sadece bir tavsiyede bulunabilirim; Tanrı sevgisi hakkında bir kitap var, onu oku, onun üzerinde çalış, eğer bu da sana yardımcı olmazsa hiç kimse sana yardım edemez.� Tanımadığı adam şöyle yanıt verir: “Bu kitabın yazarı zaten benim.�
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 30, 2023
3.5 stars -- an accessible introduction to Kierkegaard, but does not stand on its own as much as the structure implies. Supplemental works by Kierkegaard strengthen these parables, but they are still fun and enlightening without them.
January 27, 2023
I will be putting an effort into learning as much as I can about this man and his thoughts
January 28, 2024
A good anthology of Kierkegaard’s parables with a helpful introduction.
February 23, 2024
i think Elliott Smith would love this Kierkegaard guy for some reason
March 4, 2025
farely decent selection of k’s writings and a good way for someone who isn’t too familiar to begin to understand his philosophy
March 10, 2017
It's Kierkegaard, so of course there are some brilliant pearls of wisdom, moral conviction, existential angst, and bitterness at modernity. Having them all together like this is pretty useful. But the translations are on the clunky side.
January 14, 2017
A fine book I'm glad to have discovered and read. A collection of 86 parables gleaned by the editor from Kierkegaard's published works. Although I knew a bit about Kierkegaard, I didn't know he had written parables so extensively or intentionally. It goes along with his style of writing many pieces under pseudonymous--being a way of distancing oneself from the piece and offering it for contemplation. These compare well with the tales of Tolstoy (though generally much shorter), or the parables of Jesus. While Tolstoy's tales generally have a certain moral, these sometimes do not have a clear point, but are no less provocative for that. They generally pertain to the importance of living Christianity as contrasted with the silliness of theoretical or theological reflection or pretense.
My interest came from Wittgenstein's interest in Kierkegaard, and in Kierkegaard's considering this sort of writing to be his poetry.
Parables I especially liked included: The Early Finish, The Postponed Answer, The Letter, The Society to Counteract Wine Drinking (which was quite reminiscent of the Grand Inquisitor), The Critical Apparatus, The Refurbished Guidebook, and The Author of the Proofs.
My interest came from Wittgenstein's interest in Kierkegaard, and in Kierkegaard's considering this sort of writing to be his poetry.
Parables I especially liked included: The Early Finish, The Postponed Answer, The Letter, The Society to Counteract Wine Drinking (which was quite reminiscent of the Grand Inquisitor), The Critical Apparatus, The Refurbished Guidebook, and The Author of the Proofs.
December 18, 2015
An intensely challenging read whose moderate rating has less to do with the excellence of Kierkegaard's famed thinking as with my ability to grasp the various parables themselves.
The selection is very diverse and there are sections heavily underlined and others absent of marks in my book indicating that I tried but did not arrive at a good comprehension. My limitations aside, this is a book that stretches the mind and ennobles it. I would recommend this book to those who are philosophically bent or who have a craving for theological thinking that is subtle and probing.
The selection is very diverse and there are sections heavily underlined and others absent of marks in my book indicating that I tried but did not arrive at a good comprehension. My limitations aside, this is a book that stretches the mind and ennobles it. I would recommend this book to those who are philosophically bent or who have a craving for theological thinking that is subtle and probing.
February 16, 2014
More philosophical than religious.
I learned that I do not possess a philosophical bent of mind.
That said, the ones I understood and liked were:
"The Foolish Day-Laborer" Why does the invitation to faith appear to be absurd? (51)
"The Rigorous Coachman" Of what is the human spirit capable? (59)
"The Dangerous Instrument" Is love, in the Christian sense, dangerous? (123)
I learned that I do not possess a philosophical bent of mind.
That said, the ones I understood and liked were:
"The Foolish Day-Laborer" Why does the invitation to faith appear to be absurd? (51)
"The Rigorous Coachman" Of what is the human spirit capable? (59)
"The Dangerous Instrument" Is love, in the Christian sense, dangerous? (123)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
Can't find what you're looking for?
Get help and learn more about the design.