Premium
Imitation and Contemporaneity: Kierkegaard and the Imitation of Christ
Author(s) -
Cockayne Joshua
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
the heythrop journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.127
H-Index - 10
eISSN - 1468-2265
pISSN - 0018-1196
DOI - 10.1111/heyj.12786
Subject(s) - imitation , citation , cockayne syndrome , philosophy , psychology , genetics , computer science , library science , social psychology , biology , nucleotide excision repair , dna repair , gene
What it is the purpose of the Christian spiritual life? One prominent answer to this question which has been discussed repeatedly in Christian theology, is that the Christian ought to be an imitator of Christ. And when one thinks of the theology surrounding imitation, one perhaps thinks of writers such as Thomas à Kempis, St Francis of Assisi, St Augustine, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Yet, when one considers the contribution of the 19 century Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard to Christian spirituality, the theology of imitation does not immediately spring to mind. However, Kierkegaard has a great deal to contribute to our understanding of what it means to imitate Christ, and this is a theme which he devotes a great deal of time to, particularly in the latter period of his authorship. In this paper, I will give an overview of Kierkegaard’s discussion of imitating Christ which, I hope, can both bring clarity to this aspect of Kierkegaard’s thought, as well illuminating what it means for a believer to be an imitator of Christ.