Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #282562 in Books
• Published on: 1989-09-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 216 pages

Review
[D]iscover a world bursting with both humor and pathos, a world in which despair and hope, doubt and belief, God and self collide in passionate encounter. -- Review

Review
[D]iscover a world bursting with both humor and pathos, a world in which despair and hope, doubt and belief, God and self collide in passionate encounter.
(Religious Studies Review )

Language Notes
Text: English, German (translation)

Customer Reviews

The Snickering and Scheming Soren
Ah, Parables. There are few other ways to set the mind spinning than a good parable. It's similar to a great mystery case, and the satissfaction derived from figuring out what it means more than makes up for the mental effort.

That was Johannes Climacus speaking. Some people will find the book enjoyable purely on that level.

I like the book because it has the potential to change the way I live. Don't be decieved by the slimness of the volume and the short sections. A sensetive reader could take a year reading this book. Because of the need to enjoy, understand, evaluate, and apply each parable, I can only read a few each night before sleeping.

However, don't let that seriousness delay you: Oden has collected some of the pieces that best bring out Soren and his authors' wit and humor. Truly, an indispensable book whether you are just discovering Kierkegaard or are an old friend of his.

For beginners, I reccomend reading this with "Kierkegaard for Beginners." Some high-minded people might be shocked that I say that, but I'm not too proud to admit that I find that to be the most compelling introduction to Kierkegaard that I have read. The illustrations are appropriate and also outrageous. This book is similar, but more mystifying, which is why I reccommend the "for beginners" book.

Who says SK isn't fun?
While I look with horror at the whole Philosophy in 90 minutes series, if you had to do it for SK this is how you could best do it. A wonderful little book for dipping into, full of short witty aphorisms taken from SK's works. Of course everything is out of context, but then SK tended to set these witty little stories in very intimidating tomes. In any case, this book provides a nice place to start and the references allow you to find the parables in the context of the works themselves.

EVEN OUT OF CONTEXT, IT'S A GREAT READ
Soren was a brilliant surveyor of the human soul. Collected in this volume are what amounts to a greatest hits of parables highlighting the discoveries he made along the way that compel the reader to get off the philosophical phence when it comes to life's decisions. Don't sweat the small stuff? More like, Think, Choose, and the small stuff never surfaces. Perhaps the greatest of all his parables is "The Jewel on Thin Ice", and its inclusion here is worth the purcahse price all by itself.

If you are familiar with Kierkegaard, you know what a brilliant reference tome this will be. If you are not, this is a great way to begin your examination of a man who was justifiably the Danish Dalai Lhama. His spirituality is immersed in being present in the moment, and would lay the foundation for all existentialist (i.e., Buddhist thinkers in Western trappings) thought in the 20th Century from Husserl and Sartre to Heidegger and Neil Young.
Well done, well worth keeping by your reading lamp. It is a jewel on thin ice well worth risking one's immersion.