Giveren, gaven, modtageren og gensidigheden

In this article we will read Kierkegaard in continuation of theun-going debate about the economy of the gift. I will argue that Kierkegaard’snotion of love as a three-part-relation in many ways exceedsthe insights in the economy of the gift that Marcel Mauss gained holdof in his anthropologic studies in 1925. Insights which have led to anun-going debate about the “pureness” of the gift between philosopherslike Jacques Derrida, Emmanuel Lévinas and Jean-Luc Marion andin recent theological studies as the ones by Bo Holm og Niels HenrikGregersen. In what follows I will put attention to how Kierkegaard inhis upbuilding discourses and in Works of Love describes love as a specialmutual relation between the lover (the giver) the beloved (the receiver)and love itself (the gift). Hereby I wish to show that Kierkegaard’s notionof love contains a deliberate contribution to the recent debate of theeconomy of the gift.