THINKING THROUGH KIERKEGAARD'S ANTI-CLIMACUS: ART, IMAGINATION, AND IMITATION
What place do imagination and art have in Christian existence? This paper examines this question through the writings of Kierkegaard's pseudonym Anti-Climacus: The Sickness Unto Death and Practice in Christianity. I focus on the latter work in particular because it best illustrates the importan...
| Published in: | Heythrop journal |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
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| Published: |
Wiley-Blackwell
2009
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| In: |
Heythrop journal
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Volltext (kostenfrei) Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Parallel Edition: | Non-electronic
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| Summary: | What place do imagination and art have in Christian existence? This paper examines this question through the writings of Kierkegaard's pseudonym Anti-Climacus: The Sickness Unto Death and Practice in Christianity. I focus on the latter work in particular because it best illustrates the importance of imagination in following after (Efterfølgelse) Christ in imitation, which Anti-Climacus presents as the proper task of faithful Christian existence. After outlining both his critique and his affirmation of the imagination, I then consider what role the notion of ‘Christian art’ might play in his account of the imitation of Christ. Anti-Climacus gives a severe critique of Christian art, insofar as it disposes the viewer to detached observation and admiration – rather than imitation – of Christ. However, an earlier passage in the same text gives a provocative yet cryptic indication of the sort of art that would not succumb to this danger. Taking a cue from the phenomenology of Jean-Luc Marion, I draw out this suggestion and argue for the important role that visual art can play in imitating Christ. The final section illustrates this point briefly with three paintings: Matthias Grünewald's Crucifixion, Hans Holbein's The Body of the Dead Christ in the Tomb, and Albrecht Dürer's Self-Portrait (1500). |
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| ISSN: | 1468-2265 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Heythrop journal
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-2265.2008.00409.x |