Thinking through Kierkegaard : existential identity in a pluralistic world /

Mehl (Univ. of Central Arkansas), who is a professor of both philosophy and religion, has written a book that looks at Kierkegaard's understanding of the self more from a philosophical than a theological perspective. With the first three chapters dedicated to the pseudonyms Judge Williams, Climacus, and Anti-Climacus, Mehl walks readers through the development of Kierkegaard's understanding of what genuine selfhood entails. He accomplishes this quite successfully, clarifying and differentiating the contributions of the different pseudonyms--a task always appreciated by readers of Kierkegaard. Interspersed through these chapters, and developed more fully in the fourth chapter, is a critical reappraisal of the value of this notion of the self in light of the "pluralistic world" in which people live. This analysis of the "father of existentialism" is complemented by a careful use of thinkers ranging from Friedrich Nietzsche to Alasdair MacIntyre. Mehl's criticisms, however, will receive mixed reactions. Postmodern philosophers will resonate with his appeals to the multiplicity of human experience. Theologians may be concerned about what is missing, e.g., the lack of theological context that Luther's understanding of law and gospel could have provided to understand Kierkegaard's moral self-evaluation. ^BSumming Up: Recommended. Graduate students and faculty/researchers. J. K. Mann Susquehanna University