I must confess that one of the Christian thinkers that I have wanted to learn more about have struggled to do successfully is Soren Kierkegaard. I have only read snippets of his work and I have plodded through a few short introductions.
What I am much more comfortable reading is a biblical commentary, even if it is not a traditional exegetical commentary. That is why I am very thankful for Behold, My Mother and My Brethren! by Bryan Christman.
This book is the first volume of a Kierkegaardian reading of the Gospel of Mark, with this volume covering Mark 1:1-4:41.
The goal of this book is not to necessarily discover what Mark originally meant, although the author does wrestle with that. Rather Christman looks at the themes of certain passages in Mark and then turns to Kierkegaard and what he said about these same themes.
Although this book is primarily a conversation with Kierkegaard, Christman also brings in other voices such as Dietrich Bonhoeffer and C.S. Lewis.
I found as I read this that I became more confident in my ability to read Kierkegaard. I wouldn’t say my intimidation is completely gone, the way Christman presents his ideas makes sense to me for the first time.
Now the goal of this is presumably not to be a gateway drug to Kierkegaard. One of the purposes of the author is use Kierkegaard’s struggles with the Christendom of his time while living in Denmark to help us to understand what it looks like for us coming out of Christendom. Christman’s thoughts on this are helpful and worth considering.
It happened that I read this primarily before bed and it ended up being a part of my devotional time. While highly academic, it can actually double as a devotionals resource for those who are looking for something deeper.
If you are interested in the Gospel of Mark or Soren Kierkegaard or just some thoughtful Christian writing, I recommend Behold, My Mother and My Brethren!
