Copenhagen, Denmark

Søren Kierkegaard: The Individual Between the Religious and the Secular

Once again, the Faculty of Theology is pleased to offer a course on the thought of Søren Kierkegaard in his hometown and at his own university. In this concentrated summer course, you will study alongside students from Denmark as well as countries throughout the world.

This course serves two purposes: First, it offers a general survey of the thought of Denmark’s most globally famous philosopher and Christian theologian, Søren Kierkegaard (1813–1855); second, it specifically assays Kierkegaard’s interrogation of becoming an individual in the dynamics between the religious and the secular.

Kierkegaard’s authorship centers on the existential project of becoming oneself. According to Kierkegaard, this is a difficult ethical and religious task that presents itself to every human individual—and at the same time, it is a task that demands the individual challenge their preconceptions about the content and limits of both morality and religiosity. In brief, Kierkegaard’s interpretation of Christianity requires that the individual confront and develop a new relationship to their own religiosity, in addition to what is ethically required of them.

Target group

This course is open to third or fourth year undergraduate students as well as first year graduate students. You must have completed 120 ECTS points before the summer course begins. The course aims at students interested in philosophy, theology, literature and social sciences, though all disciplines are welcome; a background in philosophy is not required.

Credits info

15 EC
15 ECTS