The Stillness of History: Kierkegaard and German Mysticism

Authors

  • M.G. Piety Drexel University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5399/uo/konturen.7.0.3676

Abstract

The German mystics were particularly important for Kierkegaard because of the proximity of Germany to Denmark and because of their influence on both German idealism and the Pietist tradition in which Kierkegaard was raised. This article is the first attempt to look at the issue of how the views of the German mystics may have influenced Kierkegaard’s though. It begins with an introduction to what one could call mystical epistemology, but then looks more specifically at the epistemology of two medieval German mystics, Meister Eckhart and Johannes Tauler, and at Kierkegaard’s exposure to the German mystical tradition. Finally, it presents an account of Kierkegaard’s own religious epistemology that makes clear that it is largely indistinguishable from the epistemology of Ekhardt and Tauler.

Author Biography

M.G. Piety, Drexel University

M.G. Piety has published numerous scholarly articles in professional journals and books as well as popular articles and essays both online and in the Times Literary Supplement. Her translations of Søren Kierkegaard’s Repetition and Philosophical Crumbs for Oxford University Press appeared in 2009 and her book Ways of Knowing: Kierkegaard’s Pluralist Epistemology was published by Baylor University Press in 2010. She is currently working on a book for Gegensatz Press entitled Fear and Dissembling: The Copenhagen Kierkegaard Controversy. Piety is also a frequent contributor to the online political journal CounterPunch

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Published

2015-08-23

How to Cite

Piety, M. (2015). The Stillness of History: Kierkegaard and German Mysticism. Konturen, 7, 40–60. https://doi.org/10.5399/uo/konturen.7.0.3676