Soren Kierkegaard by David Swenson (1921) Part 2 of 6
Channel: Craig Campbell
Date: 2012-06-29

Soren Kierkegaard 1813-1855 became engaged to Regine Olsen 1822-1904 in 1840 while attending the University of Copenhagen. He had been there since 1830 and finally graduated in 1841. While attending school he was forced to read the writings of William Shakespeare 1564-1616, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1749-1832, Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm  1786-1859 and 1785-1863, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel 1770-1831, Ludvig Holberg 1684-1754, and the works of Aristotle and Plato. He liked Plato's creation, Socrates, the best and then the comedies and treatises of Holberg. He decided not to  marry Regine because he had too many religious presuppositions and she wasn't as interested as he was in pursuing the idea of Christianity. One of his early interpreters was Georg Brandes 1842-1927 who also attended the University of Copenhagen and was taught by Kierkegaard's cousin Hans Brochner. The audio from this video comes from a 1920 article in the periodical, Scandinavian Studies and Notes by David F. Swenson.

Here's a link to Ludvig Holberg's books.
http://archive.org/search.php?query=subject%3A%22Holberg%2C+Ludvig%2C+baron%2C+1684-1754%22

And here's a link to some of the Discourses Kierkegaard wrote.  http://archive.org/details/edifyingdiscours00kier

In this recording Kierkegaard says, "I am not a Christian." He explained what he meant in his 1846 book, Concluding Unscientific Postscript  p. 183-188 Hong. His view is that no one is ever done with the process of becoming a Christian because once a person has finished that task the person can ride in luxury the rest of the way through the conversion from a sinner to a saint. An individual must continually strive to reach the goal.