Regurgitated Faith

Kierkegaard is a famous 19^th century philosopher from Denmark. Although he was a devout Christian, he challenged many of the views held by organized religion.


"For Kierkegaard Christian faith is not a matter of regurgitating church dogma. It is a matter of individual subjective passion, which cannot be mediated by the clergy or by human artefacts. Faith is the most important task to be achieved by a human being, because only on the basis of faith does an individual have a chance to become a true self. This self is the life-work which God judges for eternity.” (from the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

'Faith is not a matter of regurgitating church dogma.’ Sweet line!

According to Kierkegaard--Faith is absurd. He uses the word ‘absurd’ to mean --beyond human rational thought. One must take a ‘leap of faith’ into the absurd, beyond reason, beyond the paradox, into the transcendent, unexplainable mystery of God.

These are complex ideas. If Kierkegaard were alive now, he wouldn’t be very popular. He wouldn’t sell too many books or be invited to speak at Christian events. We want simplified, easily processed faith that can be regurgitated without much mental effort. We want a faith that can be explained in 7 easy steps, a creed that can fit on a bumper sticker.

If faith is beyond human reasoning power, why even bother to make sense of it? We are drawn to the incomprehensible mystery, to the mystical union with God. Maybe we should just enjoy the dance and quit trying to explain the movements and sensations.