Mark A. Tietjen - Kierkegaard, Communication, and Virtue

KIERKEGAARD, COMMUNICATION,
AND VIRTUE

INDIANA SERIES IN THE PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION

Merold Westphal, Editor

KIERKEGAARD,
COMMUNICATION,
AND VIRTUE

Authorship as Edification

Mark A. Tietjen

Indiana University Press

Bloomington and Indianapolis

This book is a publication of

Indiana University Press
601 North Morton Street
Bloomington, Indiana 474043797 USA

iupress.indiana.edu

2013 by Mark A. Tietjen

All rights reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. The Association of American University Presses Resolution on Permissions constitutes the only exception to this prohibition.

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.481992.

Manufactured in the United States of America

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Tietjen, Mark A.

Kierkegaard, communication, and virtue :
authorship as edification / Mark A. Tietjen.

pages cm. (Indiana series in the philosophy of religion)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-253-00854-1 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN 978-0-253-00862-6 (pbk. : alk. paper) ISBN 978-0-253-00871-8 (ebook) 1. Kierkegaard, Sren, 1813-1855. I. Title.

B4377.T54 2013

198.9dc23

2013002203

1 2 3 4 5 18 17 16 15 14 13

Contents

Acknowledgments

T HIS BOOK is a result of the confluence of many lives commonly pursuing the joys of learning and friendship. I should first thank James Loder, who introduced me to the thought of Kierkegaard and whose powerful influence on several generations of students and ministers at Princeton Theological Seminary continues to this day. My interest in Kierkegaard led me to Baylor University, in large part because of its 2012 vision that would attract two Kierkegaard scholars, Robert Roberts and Stephen Evans. Their knowledge and especially their wisdom have been essential to my maturation as a philosopher and as a person. I am grateful also to Margaret Watkins, Michael Foley, and John Davenport, who made available to me their expertise. In 2005 and in 2010 I was privileged to receive summer fellowships from the Hong Kierkegaard Library at St. Olaf College, and much of the work in this book was begun while at St. Olaf, with the kind and generous support of Gordon Marino and Cynthia Lund. Thanks also go to my colleagues in the Philosophy Program at the University of West Georgia and to George Kieh, from whom I received a College of Arts and Sciences Faculty Research Grant that enabled further research.

There are many othersgraduate student colleagues at Baylor, commentators at conferences, West Georgia undergraduateswhose interaction has in different ways contributed to the development of the ideas in this book. I am grateful in particular to my good friend Zach Manis, who has over the years read earlier versions of chapters of the book and always offered thoughtful feedback. Roberts Perkins, editor of the International Kierkegaard Commentary series from which some of the material in this book is reprinted, has served as a kind of mentor to me, as he has to so many young Kierkegaard scholars. Sylvia Walsh improved this manuscript first by pointing me to Kierkegaards lectures on communication and second, along with Merold Westphal, by reviewing this manuscript for Indiana. Along with Merold, both Dee Mortensen and Sarah Jacobi of Indiana University Press have in a most competent and patient way guided me in the process of taking a manuscript and making a book.

The broader story of my journey to Kierkegaard is the story of my life, and those positive influences are far too many to enumerate. Let me briefly acknowledge my entire family, especially my parents, Tom and Alice, whose lives and words have edified me all along the way, and my wife, Amy, who, like so many spouses, endured much trouble and inconvenience to see me flourish. She has been most supportive and gracious.

Finally, I would like to express gratitude to the editors and publishers who have granted permission to reprint in revised forms and portions the following articles and book chapters:

To Believe or Not to Believe: Toward a Hermeneutic of Trust, in International Kierkegaard Commentary, vol. 22: The Point of View, ed. Robert L. Perkins (Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 2010), 78103.

Kierkegaard and the Classical Virtue Tradition, Faith and Philosophy 27:2 (April 2010): 15373.

Indirect Communication, and the Special Case of Christian Communication, in Kierkegaard and Christianity (Acta Kierkegaardiana, vol. 3), ed. Andrew Burgess, Abraham Khan, Roman Krlik, Peter ajda, and Jamie Turnbull (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2008), 21828.

What The Book on Adler Can Teach about the Author and the Authorship, in International Kierkegaard Commentary, vol. 24: The Book on Adler, ed. Robert L. Perkins (Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 2008), 97120.

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