Kierkegaard

I received an email from Amazon. The subject line was:

Save up to 58% on Christian Magazines!

I had to know how I in particular was targeted by this targeted marketing. So I read on:

As someone who's recently purchased Christian books at Amazon.com, you might like to know that we offer a large selection of Christian magazines as well. Subscribe now and save up to 58% on the cover price.

It took me a while, but eventually I recalled that (way back in November) I'd ordered Kierkegaard's Concluding Unscientific Postscript off of Amazon. And, as Amazon is well aware, there is no way I could possibly be interested in the works of Kierkegaard unless I were Christian. Even so, I find myself ill-inclined to accept Amazon's offer for cut-rate subscriptions to such periodicals as New Man Magazine.

Before I make a final decision on the matter, though, I should probably take a look at what I would be missing.

Healing 'Father Wounds'

The muscular young man poured out his soul to me as I sat listening intently. The frustrations and hurts cascaded out of his heart as tears streamed down his face.

And now I know. If I ever feel the need to learn about young men and their tears, feelings, and muscles, I know where to go. Until then, moving on....

(Actually, I did read on, and at least part of the article seems to be about how a man's relationship with God can fulfill emotional needs that are left unsatisfied by his imperfect relationship with his father. Coincidentally enough, I recently reacquainted myself with Freud's claim that religion is an illusion maintained by the transference of infantile insecurities onto a posited replacement father-figure. Illusions, for Freud, were not necessarily false, but, still, this is generally considered an unflattering portrayal of religious motivation. There are good reasons, including ones internal to psychoanalytic theory, to doubt that Freud's account can be applied as a general critique, but sometimes people make things far too easy for old Sigmund.)

In other Kierkegaard news, the old boy just got made fun of on the Daily Show. Stephen Colbert laying the smackdown:

Way to sock it to Denmark, Jon. It's the cesspool of Scandanavia. Hey, did you know that Kierkegaard was Danish? Yeah, listen to this: "faith is a matter of the individual repeatedly renewing his passionate subjective relationship to an object which can never be known." Whatever, bitch.

Precursor to Nietzsche my ass, Søren!

Ooh, nasty.

Actually, I looked up that quote, and I don't think it actually came from the pen of Kierkegaard. It would appear that it was lifted directly off of the Kierkegaard entry of the Standford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. For shame!

And for more on the connection between Kierkegaard and Nietzsche, see here.