Soren: The [possible] Son of a Preacher Man

Soren Kierkegaard was a Christian, a philosopher, a mover and a shaker. If you want to read something sincere, read this guy. That's why I love him.

Writing in the 19th century, Kierkegaard saw the greatest enemy of Christianity as the cultured and respectable Christianity of his day. The tragedy of easy Christianity is that existence has ceased to be an adventure and a constant risk in the presence of God but has become a form of morality and facts to be believed. Its purpose is to simplify the matter of becoming a Christian. This is only paganism, "cheap" Christianity, with neither cost nor pain, Kierkegaard argued. It is like war games, in which armies move and there is a great deal of noise, but there is no real risk of pain--and no real victory. Kierkegaard believed the church of his day was merely "playing at Christianity."

Kierkegaard was convinced that his calling was in "making Christianity difficult." He reminded people of his day that to be truly Christian one must become aware of the cost of faith and pay the price. So he said things like this:

"We are what is called a 'Christian nation--but in such a sense that not a single one of us is in the character of the Christianity of the New Testament."

“The matter is quite simple. The Bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand, we are obligated to act accordingly.

“Take any words in the New Testament and forget everything except pledging yourself to act accordingly. My God, you will say, if I do that my whole life will be ruined. How would I ever get on in the world? Herein lies the real place of Christian scholarship.

“Christian scholarship is the Church’s prodigious invention to defend itself against the Bible, to ensure that we can continue to be good Christians without the Bible coming too close.

“Oh, priceless scholarship, what would we do without you? Dreadful it is to fall into the hands of the living God. Yes, it is even dreadful to be alone with the New Testament.”

He was a severe man. This is why I like Soren Kierkegaard.

If we have a son, Soren [middle name] Smith sounds good to me. It has a nice ring to it. And the legacy of a dead philosopher as well...