Abstract

This dissertation endeavors to demonstrate why Kierkegaard speaks of a "duplexity" between his religious and pseudonymous writings in The Point of View. In order to do that, I first establish Kierkegaard's Christian, biblically-based anthropology, which acts as the basis for this "duplexity." In other words, an exposition of Kierkegaard's Christian, biblically-based anthropology reveals the nature of the dialectic between his religious and pseudonymous writings. ;I argue that two fundamental relationships within the self constitute the essence of Kierkegaard's anthropology: a relationship of the self to itself and a relationship of the self to God. The first establishes each individual's fundamental quest for meaning and fulfillment because self-relationality makes us inherently reflective creatures who must continually wrestle with the issue of self-identity. Furthermore, this capacity for self-reflection is the basis for the "duplexity" between the two sets of writings. The second fundamental relationship within the self necessitates that the issue of self-identity involve our status before God. The key to understanding the importance of this second dynamic relationship within the self is Kierkegaard's use of the doctrine of creatio ex nihilo. Kierkegaard stresses that God is the omnipotent creator of the world and that before Him we are nothing and less than nothing. It is this understanding of the self we must appropriate in order to enjoy God's loving presence and yet it is the very truth of ourselves from which we run. ;Given his understanding of God's omnipotence and authority and the limitations of human effort however, Kierkegaard realizes that his literary efforts could only achieve so much. He maintains that the "duplexity" between his writings can only help "awaken" people to themselves and so draw them out of aesthetic existence to the ethical stage. His writings, therefore, cannot bring people to faith; it is the Holy Spirit alone that gives us faith