The editors of this volume have assembled an impressive array of Kierkegaard scholars to cover the important issue of his relation to phenomenology, aware that the movement did not emerge as a discrete methodology until 50 years after his death with the thought of Husserl. In the introduction, the editors carefully situate the interface between these two areas of scholarship. They examine constructively what avenues might open up for current phenomenological debates if they were studied through the lens of key components of Kierkegaard’s thinking. The essays in this volume center on four topic areas: "Phenomenological Explorations," which compares Kierkegaard's use of metaphysical topics, such as necessity and contingency, to the same concepts in phenomenology; "Hearing and Seeing," which focuses on his phenomenological foundations in sensation and emotions; "Rethinking Faith and Despair," which shows the prescience of his concept of despair for what emerges in later phenomenology; and finally "New Phenomenology," which shows the relevance of his use of givenness, dispossession, and existence for recent phenomenologists such as Jean-Luc Marion, Jean-Yves Lacoste, and Michel Henry. Highly recommended as an accessible text that would serve a broad array of readers in both phenomenology and Kierkegaard scholarship. Highly recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty.

Choice Reviews

A remarkable unfolding of a Kierkegaardian approach to phenomenology. The essays in this volume are indicative of a genuine opening in Kierkegaard scholarship, implementing new ways of reading his signed and pseudonymous texts.

Frances Maughan-Brown, College of the Holy Cross