ABSTRACT
Jacob Böhme, the celebrated speculative mystic, played an ambivalent role in Kierkegaard’s authorship. As we shall see, he sometimes figured as an example of the confusion of metaphysics and Christianity, illustrating the dangers of “speculation.” At other times Böhme served as an exemplary model of single-minded, Godoriented religious passion. Moreover, Böhme’s reflections on the “unground” may have been an inspiration (perhaps mediated by Friedrich Wilhelm Schelling or Franz von Baader) for Vigilius Haufniensis’ discussion of anxiety, freedom, and sin in The Concept of Anxiety. In short, Böhme presented Kierkegaard with the apparent anomaly of a grand speculator of cosmic proportions who nevertheless manifested genuine pathos. Consequently, Kierkegaard’s attitude toward Böhme would exhibit a pronounced ambivalence, for Böhme presented Kierkegaard with the paradox of a passionate, pious practitioner of speculation.
