Kierkegaard’s Concept of Despair

On occasion, Theunissen admits that his method is at variance with Kierkegaard’s self-understanding. “Such an approach not only contradicts Kierkegaard’s self-conception. It also collides with the currently prevalent way of dealing with him,” which is more attentive to Kierkegaard’s form of communication. The second most significant departure is his refusal to deal with faith. Theunissen’s book must be judged in part by the extent to which it suffers because of its attempt to abstract the Kierkegaardian account of despair from its theological context.