ABSTRACT
The Christian roots of Søren Kierkegaard’s authorship could never be convincingly questioned. Be that as it may, his emphasis on religious subjectivity, the solitude before the divine, the impenetrability of faith, and the absurdity of Christian beliefs have led scholars to think that in this respect we are dealing with a novel or highly creative import of monotheism into philosophical psychology. Moreover, the critical stance against the ecclesiastic establishment, the passing into silence of the messianic in Christ, and the absence of any Trinitarian reflection are just a few instances which might confirm that Kierkegaard’s originality preempts the fundamental tenets of Christian dogma and history. The following study can be taken as a refinement of such views. Kierkegaard’s interaction with the tradition of Christian thought, dogmatic or otherwise, has been more definite than even he himself acknowledged. In particular, the influence of Tertullian, and especially Augustine, is hard to ignore.
