Summer Writing Season Begins!

The 2021-2022 school year is now officially over for me, and with my first day of summer vacation comes a great deal of excitement at the prospect of being able to write again. I’m especially looking forward to getting back into my exploration of the intersection between Kierkegaard’s treatment of the problem of existence as… Continue reading Summer Writing Season Begins!

Preliminary Notes on the Riddle of Self in Lilith, Part V

We have, then, a simple, direct motion of the will by which the self grounds itself, or chooses to be grounded in, the power that established it–its causing life, as MacDonald would say. We could characterize it simply as obedience to the command, “You shall love the Lord you God, with all your heart, with… Continue reading Preliminary Notes on the Riddle of Self in Lilith, Part V

Preliminary Notes on the Riddle of Self in Lilith, Part IV

Through his temporal-spatial dislocation into a new world, and through Mr. Raven’s questioning, Mr. Vane has become aware of the problem of self, the problem posed by his individual existence. The awareness that he does not know, is not at home in, the world has helped mediate to him the awareness that he does not… Continue reading Preliminary Notes on the Riddle of Self in Lilith, Part IV

Preliminary Notes on the Riddle of Self in Lilith, Part II

The first problem facing Mr. Vane in the story is how he is to make himself at home in an utterly unfamiliar world. His temporal-spatial dislocation is far more obvious to him than his existential dislocation, and demands to be dealt with first. But his demand for information is met with a philosophical reply, as… Continue reading Preliminary Notes on the Riddle of Self in Lilith, Part II

MacDonald and Kierkegaard: Sonship and the Knight of Faith

Recently, I have been trying to describe the particular concerns of George MacDonald’s theological writing that could, I believe, with some fairness be described as existentialist. In the process, I have learned that the label “existentialist” is a slippery one, and that there is no universal agreement on to whom it should be applied. If… Continue reading MacDonald and Kierkegaard: Sonship and the Knight of Faith