The Aesthetic Sphere

The aesthetic sphere bears within itself the germ of its own destruction: the frustrated attempts of the spirit to affirmt itself cause a strange anxiety, eventually leading to despair…Only a free decision can break through the aesthetic attitude.  At this point it does not matter to what one commits onself, since the dilemma here is [...]

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Essentially Religious

The essentially religious author is always polemical, and hence he suffers under or suffers from the opposition which corresponds to whatever in his age must be regarded as the specific evil.  If it be kings and emperors, popes and bishops…and powers that constitute Evil, the religious author must be recognizable by the fact that he [...]

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Kierkegaard and Hauerwas?

In a conversation with Stanley Hauerwas in March, he divulged that he was very much influenced by Søren Kierkegaard.  I asked him about this because I have intuited, although never really read, a strong connection between their work.  Now, I wouldn’t want to overdo it and claim that Kierkegaard is the key to understanding Hauerwas, [...]

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Either/Or

“When I began Either/Or…I was potentially as deeply under the influence of religion as ever I have been.  I was so deeply shaken that I understood perfectly well that I could not possibly succeed in striking the comforting and secure via media in which most people pass their lives: I had either to cast myself [...]

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The Good Kind of Church Leadership

I’m a leadership skeptic.  In 2004, I attended the Willow Creek Leadership Summit in Washington, D.C…sort of.  I mean, I was there, but none of the speakers were.  I was at one of the satellite campuses that ‘participated’ in the event through an enormous screen at the front of the church (In fact, I think [...]

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