S-ren Kierkegaard-s The Sickness unto Death is widely recognized as one of the most significant and influential works of Christian philosophy written in the nineteenth century. One of the cornerstones of Kierkegaard-s reputation as a writer and thinker, the book is also a masterclass in the art of interpretation. In critical thinking, interpretation is all about defining and clarifying terms - making sure that everyone is on the same page. But it can also be about redefining terms: showing old concepts in a new light by interpreting them in a certain way. This skill is at the heart of The Sickness unto Death.
Kierkegaard-s book focuses on the meaning of -despair- - the sickness named in the title. For Kierkegaard, the key problem of existence was an individual-s relationship with God, and he defines true despair as equating to the idea of sin - something that separates people from God, or from the idea of a higher standard beyond ourselves. Kierkegaard-s int
