Kierkegaard's Writings, XVIII:
Without Authority
Søren Kierkegaard
Edited and translated, with introduction and notes, by Howard V. Hong and Edna H. Hong

Cloth | 1997 | $80.00 / £46.95
320 pp. | 5 x 8 | 5 halftones 1 table

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"Without authority," a phrase Kierkegaard repeatedly applied to himself and his writings, is an appropriate common title for this volume of five short works that in various ways deal with the concept and practice of authority. The Lily in the Field and the Bird of the Air presupposes the teaching authority of the lily and the bird, derived from the authoritative Gospel injunction to learn from them. Two Ethical-Religious Essays deal with the limits of authorization for a witness to the truth and with the contrast between the authority of the genius and that of the apostle. The remaining work--Three Discourses at the Communion on Fridays, An Upbuilding Discourse, and Two Discourses at the Communion on Fridays--presuppose Gospel authority in meditations on forgiveness and the power of love.

After deciding to end his career as an author with the publication of Concluding Unscientific Postscript, Kierkegaard nevertheless became absorbed in a fruitful second authorship after the Corsair affair. The present five works, together with Practice in Christianity, On My Work as an Author, The Sickness unto Death, and For Self-Examination, published during the same period (1849-51), represent the close of the second writing career. The preface to Two Discourses opens with a comprehensive paragraph that concludes the second period of writing, embraces the first, and defines the whole.

Table of Contents

Series:

• Kierkegaard's Writings
  Howard V. Hong and Edna H. Hong, Series Editors

Subject Areas:

• Philosophy
• Religion

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For customers in the U.S., Canada, Latin America, Asia, and Australia
Cloth: $80.00 ISBN13: 978-0-691-01239-1

For customers in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and India
Cloth: £46.95 ISBN13: 978-0-691-01239-1

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File created: 7/1/2008

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