Author: Robert L. Perkins
Publisher: Mercer University Press
ISBN: 9780865544703
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 320
Book Description
In Either/Or, Part One, Kierkegaard presents what he calls the aesthetic form of life. There he focuses on a large variety of the stereotypical views of women, from a sentimental and whining appraisal of her position in the world, through the view that sexual exploitation is an uncontrollable natural instinct and/or drive for which men are not morally responsible, to the view that woman is a jest, not to be taken seriously as a moral and responsible being, and then that she is just there as a sexual object or plaything to be reflectively seduced on the male's terms and for his pleasure or rejection, whatever suits him at the moment. Needless to say, this great variety of views of the "uses" of woman has provoked a large critique, and just as predictably, that critique is as varied as the intellectual tools available for the analysis of a work that is as literary as it is philosophic. The present collection of essays treats these and many other of the most important issues raised in Either/Or in fresh and perceptive ways. Even where familiar themes are argued, the authors introduce innovative interpretive models, new approaches and new materials are appealed to, or new rebuttal arguments against previously held positions are offered. Several of the articles, for instance, appropriate or criticize methods or insights derived from postmodernism and/or feminist philosophy, an approach that would have been unlikely two decades ago.
Either/or
Author: Robert L. Perkins
Publisher: Mercer University Press
ISBN: 9780865544703
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 320
Book Description
In Either/Or, Part One, Kierkegaard presents what he calls the aesthetic form of life. There he focuses on a large variety of the stereotypical views of women, from a sentimental and whining appraisal of her position in the world, through the view that sexual exploitation is an uncontrollable natural instinct and/or drive for which men are not morally responsible, to the view that woman is a jest, not to be taken seriously as a moral and responsible being, and then that she is just there as a sexual object or plaything to be reflectively seduced on the male's terms and for his pleasure or rejection, whatever suits him at the moment. Needless to say, this great variety of views of the "uses" of woman has provoked a large critique, and just as predictably, that critique is as varied as the intellectual tools available for the analysis of a work that is as literary as it is philosophic. The present collection of essays treats these and many other of the most important issues raised in Either/Or in fresh and perceptive ways. Even where familiar themes are argued, the authors introduce innovative interpretive models, new approaches and new materials are appealed to, or new rebuttal arguments against previously held positions are offered. Several of the articles, for instance, appropriate or criticize methods or insights derived from postmodernism and/or feminist philosophy, an approach that would have been unlikely two decades ago.
Publisher: Mercer University Press
ISBN: 9780865544703
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 320
Book Description
In Either/Or, Part One, Kierkegaard presents what he calls the aesthetic form of life. There he focuses on a large variety of the stereotypical views of women, from a sentimental and whining appraisal of her position in the world, through the view that sexual exploitation is an uncontrollable natural instinct and/or drive for which men are not morally responsible, to the view that woman is a jest, not to be taken seriously as a moral and responsible being, and then that she is just there as a sexual object or plaything to be reflectively seduced on the male's terms and for his pleasure or rejection, whatever suits him at the moment. Needless to say, this great variety of views of the "uses" of woman has provoked a large critique, and just as predictably, that critique is as varied as the intellectual tools available for the analysis of a work that is as literary as it is philosophic. The present collection of essays treats these and many other of the most important issues raised in Either/Or in fresh and perceptive ways. Even where familiar themes are argued, the authors introduce innovative interpretive models, new approaches and new materials are appealed to, or new rebuttal arguments against previously held positions are offered. Several of the articles, for instance, appropriate or criticize methods or insights derived from postmodernism and/or feminist philosophy, an approach that would have been unlikely two decades ago.
The Unhappiest One
Author: Dia Wall
Publisher: Greywheel
ISBN: 9781737672111
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 128
Book Description
Have you ever looked at your life and realized despite all the gifts around you, you still feel empty and unfulfilled? You aren't alone. This is the story of a woman who landed the dream job, married the perfect guy and had the beautiful children she dreamed of, then realized none of that was enough to make her happy. Through the people, experiences, highs and lows of her life, Dia Wall is sharing the lessons learned about happiness and how to keep it despite any circumstance. You'll laugh a lot, reflect on your own life and find out you have everything you need to go from being the unhappiest one in the room to a person who radiates limitless joy and purpose. Dia is a woman who got it all and realized it wasn't enough. If you have too, this is the book for you. Get to know her and ultimately yourself, as we all work to get happy together.
Publisher: Greywheel
ISBN: 9781737672111
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 128
Book Description
Have you ever looked at your life and realized despite all the gifts around you, you still feel empty and unfulfilled? You aren't alone. This is the story of a woman who landed the dream job, married the perfect guy and had the beautiful children she dreamed of, then realized none of that was enough to make her happy. Through the people, experiences, highs and lows of her life, Dia Wall is sharing the lessons learned about happiness and how to keep it despite any circumstance. You'll laugh a lot, reflect on your own life and find out you have everything you need to go from being the unhappiest one in the room to a person who radiates limitless joy and purpose. Dia is a woman who got it all and realized it wasn't enough. If you have too, this is the book for you. Get to know her and ultimately yourself, as we all work to get happy together.
Immediacy and Reflection in Kierkegaard's Thought
Author: Paul Cruysberghs
Publisher: Leuven University Press
ISBN: 9789058673114
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 208
Book Description
"We live in a reflective age." That is Soren Kierkegaard's overall conclusion when evaluating the time he lives in. But his appraisal contains both approval and criticism. On the one hand reflection is a necessary category to deal with the dynamics and the qualities of the modern age, on the other hand it bears a great danger. It is Kierkegaard's firm conviction that reflection should always relate to a kind of immediacy that safeguards it from becoming hollow and detached from our existential reality. Throughout the voluminous and complex work of Kierkegaard, the notions of 'immediacy' and 'reflection' play a crucial role. They appear in such an early work as From the Papers of One Still Living as well as in the late Anti-Climacus writings, and indeed their significance or influence can be felt in all philosophical texts published in between. That is not to say that the meaning of the notions is unequivocal. After all, Kierkegaard not only uses the terms in very divergent contexts, but his own understanding of them appears to evolve quite strongly in the course of his oeuvre. Moreover, in spite of their clearly philosophical character, the two notions play an unmistakable role in Kierkegaard's understanding of religion. They appear frequently in the religious discourses indeed. In short, Kierkegaard's use of the notions of 'immediacy' and 'reflection' covers a broad array of meanings and interpretations. The dialectics of immediacy and reflection, of reflection killing immediacy and raising the question of the possibility of a new immediacy is the main theme of Immediacy and Reflection in Kierkegaard's Thought. The book contains contributions authored by a number of well known Kierkegaard scholars. Kierkegaard's theory of the 'existence spheres of life' provides a first viewpoint on the interplay of immediacy and reflection. Here the philosophical and pseudonymous writings are the main subject of research. If on the other hand one pays a closer look at the significance of a 'second immediacy' for a religious attitude to life, The religious discourses come into play when the possibility of a 'second immediacy' is taken into consideration. In conclusion the theme of immediacy and reflection is connected to some important trends in the modern and contemporary era. On the one hand it is linked to the philosophical influences Kierkegaard underwent (e.g. from Hegel); on the other hand Kierkegaard is confronted with later thinkers (Heidegger in particular).
Publisher: Leuven University Press
ISBN: 9789058673114
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 208
Book Description
"We live in a reflective age." That is Soren Kierkegaard's overall conclusion when evaluating the time he lives in. But his appraisal contains both approval and criticism. On the one hand reflection is a necessary category to deal with the dynamics and the qualities of the modern age, on the other hand it bears a great danger. It is Kierkegaard's firm conviction that reflection should always relate to a kind of immediacy that safeguards it from becoming hollow and detached from our existential reality. Throughout the voluminous and complex work of Kierkegaard, the notions of 'immediacy' and 'reflection' play a crucial role. They appear in such an early work as From the Papers of One Still Living as well as in the late Anti-Climacus writings, and indeed their significance or influence can be felt in all philosophical texts published in between. That is not to say that the meaning of the notions is unequivocal. After all, Kierkegaard not only uses the terms in very divergent contexts, but his own understanding of them appears to evolve quite strongly in the course of his oeuvre. Moreover, in spite of their clearly philosophical character, the two notions play an unmistakable role in Kierkegaard's understanding of religion. They appear frequently in the religious discourses indeed. In short, Kierkegaard's use of the notions of 'immediacy' and 'reflection' covers a broad array of meanings and interpretations. The dialectics of immediacy and reflection, of reflection killing immediacy and raising the question of the possibility of a new immediacy is the main theme of Immediacy and Reflection in Kierkegaard's Thought. The book contains contributions authored by a number of well known Kierkegaard scholars. Kierkegaard's theory of the 'existence spheres of life' provides a first viewpoint on the interplay of immediacy and reflection. Here the philosophical and pseudonymous writings are the main subject of research. If on the other hand one pays a closer look at the significance of a 'second immediacy' for a religious attitude to life, The religious discourses come into play when the possibility of a 'second immediacy' is taken into consideration. In conclusion the theme of immediacy and reflection is connected to some important trends in the modern and contemporary era. On the one hand it is linked to the philosophical influences Kierkegaard underwent (e.g. from Hegel); on the other hand Kierkegaard is confronted with later thinkers (Heidegger in particular).
Kierkegaard's Instant
Author: David J. Kangas
Publisher: Indiana University Press
ISBN: 025311697X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 258
Book Description
In Kierkegaard's Instant, David J. Kangas reads Kierkegaard to reveal his radical thinking about temporality. For Kierkegaard, the instant of becoming, in which everything changes in the blink of an eye, eludes recollection and anticipation. It constitutes a beginning always already at work. As Kangas shows, Kierkegaard's retrieval of the sudden quality of temporality allows him to stage a deep critique of the idealist projects of Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel. By linking Kierkegaard's thought to the tradition of Meister Eckhart, Kangas formulates the central problem of these early texts and puts them into contemporary light -- can thinking hold itself open to the challenges of temporality?
Publisher: Indiana University Press
ISBN: 025311697X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 258
Book Description
In Kierkegaard's Instant, David J. Kangas reads Kierkegaard to reveal his radical thinking about temporality. For Kierkegaard, the instant of becoming, in which everything changes in the blink of an eye, eludes recollection and anticipation. It constitutes a beginning always already at work. As Kangas shows, Kierkegaard's retrieval of the sudden quality of temporality allows him to stage a deep critique of the idealist projects of Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel. By linking Kierkegaard's thought to the tradition of Meister Eckhart, Kangas formulates the central problem of these early texts and puts them into contemporary light -- can thinking hold itself open to the challenges of temporality?
Volume 5, Tome III: Kierkegaard and the Renaissance and Modern Traditions - Literature, Drama and Music
Author: Jon Stewart
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351874519
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 295
Book Description
The long period from the Renaissance to the nineteenth century supplied numerous sources for Kierkegaard's thought in any number of different fields. The present, rather heterogeneous volume covers the long period from the birth of Savonarola in 1452 through the beginning of the nineteenth century and into Kierkegaard's own time. The Danish thinker read authors representing vastly different traditions and time periods. Moreover, he also read a diverse range of genres. His interests concerned not just philosophy, theology and literature but also drama and music. The present volume consists of three tomes that are intended to cover Kierkegaard's sources in these different fields of thought. Tome III covers the sources that are relevant for literature, drama and music. Kierkegaard was well read in the European literature of the seventeenth and eighteenth century. He was captivated by the figure of Cervantes' Don Quixote, who is used as a model for humor and irony. He also enjoyed French literature, represented here by articles on Chateaubriand, Lamartine, and Mérimée. French dramatists were popular on the Danish stage, and Kierkegaard demonstrated an interest in, among others, Moliére and Scribe. Although he never possessed strong English skills, this did not prevent him from familiarizing himself with English literature, primarily with the help of German translations. While there is an established body of secondary material on Kierkegaard's relation to Shakespeare, little has been said about his use of the Irish dramatist Sheridan. It is obvious from, among other things, The Concept of Irony that Kierkegaard knew in detail the works of some of the main writers of the German Romantic movement. However, his use of the leading figures of the British Romantic movement, Byron and Shelley, remains largely unexplored terrain. The classic Danish authors of the eighteenth century, Holberg, Wessel and Ewald, were influential figures who prepared the way for the Golden Age of Danish poetry. Kierkegaard constantly refers to their dramatic characters, whom he often employs to illustrate a philosophical idea with a pregnant example or turn of phrase. Finally, while Kierkegaard is not an obvious name in musicology, his analysis of Mozart's Don Giovanni shows that he had a keen interest in music on many different levels.
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351874519
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 295
Book Description
The long period from the Renaissance to the nineteenth century supplied numerous sources for Kierkegaard's thought in any number of different fields. The present, rather heterogeneous volume covers the long period from the birth of Savonarola in 1452 through the beginning of the nineteenth century and into Kierkegaard's own time. The Danish thinker read authors representing vastly different traditions and time periods. Moreover, he also read a diverse range of genres. His interests concerned not just philosophy, theology and literature but also drama and music. The present volume consists of three tomes that are intended to cover Kierkegaard's sources in these different fields of thought. Tome III covers the sources that are relevant for literature, drama and music. Kierkegaard was well read in the European literature of the seventeenth and eighteenth century. He was captivated by the figure of Cervantes' Don Quixote, who is used as a model for humor and irony. He also enjoyed French literature, represented here by articles on Chateaubriand, Lamartine, and Mérimée. French dramatists were popular on the Danish stage, and Kierkegaard demonstrated an interest in, among others, Moliére and Scribe. Although he never possessed strong English skills, this did not prevent him from familiarizing himself with English literature, primarily with the help of German translations. While there is an established body of secondary material on Kierkegaard's relation to Shakespeare, little has been said about his use of the Irish dramatist Sheridan. It is obvious from, among other things, The Concept of Irony that Kierkegaard knew in detail the works of some of the main writers of the German Romantic movement. However, his use of the leading figures of the British Romantic movement, Byron and Shelley, remains largely unexplored terrain. The classic Danish authors of the eighteenth century, Holberg, Wessel and Ewald, were influential figures who prepared the way for the Golden Age of Danish poetry. Kierkegaard constantly refers to their dramatic characters, whom he often employs to illustrate a philosophical idea with a pregnant example or turn of phrase. Finally, while Kierkegaard is not an obvious name in musicology, his analysis of Mozart's Don Giovanni shows that he had a keen interest in music on many different levels.
Kierkegaard's Concept of the Interesting
Author: Anthony Eagan
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1666962481
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 265
Book Description
Volume one of Søren Kierkegaard’s Either/Or explores the crisis of the modern secular void—with its attendant doubt, ennui, and alienation—from the first-person perspective of an aesthete who, lacking any epistemic or moral foundations, grows increasingly obsessed with what he calls “the interesting.” In a close explication of the history of that aesthetic concept and a thorough exegesis of this volume, Kierkegaard’s Concept of the Interesting: The Aesthetic Gulf in Either/Or I explores the aesthete’s views on beauty, opera and music, tragedy and comedy, time, unhappiness, the difference between suffering and pain, boredom, eroticism, deception, and seduction, along with the ways in which these precipitate the ambition for increasingly interesting experiences. In this examination, Anthony Eagan thoroughly reveals Kierkegaard’s own perspective on how an exclusively aesthetic attitude can lead to an ever-more voracious tendency to interpret the world in a private, self-defeating, and unscrupulous fashion—one arising from and ultimately leading to moral solipsism and despair. This book develops a comprehensive understanding of Either/Or I that is crucial for understanding the rest of Kierkegaard’s authorship.
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1666962481
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 265
Book Description
Volume one of Søren Kierkegaard’s Either/Or explores the crisis of the modern secular void—with its attendant doubt, ennui, and alienation—from the first-person perspective of an aesthete who, lacking any epistemic or moral foundations, grows increasingly obsessed with what he calls “the interesting.” In a close explication of the history of that aesthetic concept and a thorough exegesis of this volume, Kierkegaard’s Concept of the Interesting: The Aesthetic Gulf in Either/Or I explores the aesthete’s views on beauty, opera and music, tragedy and comedy, time, unhappiness, the difference between suffering and pain, boredom, eroticism, deception, and seduction, along with the ways in which these precipitate the ambition for increasingly interesting experiences. In this examination, Anthony Eagan thoroughly reveals Kierkegaard’s own perspective on how an exclusively aesthetic attitude can lead to an ever-more voracious tendency to interpret the world in a private, self-defeating, and unscrupulous fashion—one arising from and ultimately leading to moral solipsism and despair. This book develops a comprehensive understanding of Either/Or I that is crucial for understanding the rest of Kierkegaard’s authorship.
Kierkegaard and Death
Author: Patrick Stokes
Publisher: Indiana University Press
ISBN: 0253356857
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 333
Book Description
Proceedings of a conference held in Dec. 2007 at St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minn.
Publisher: Indiana University Press
ISBN: 0253356857
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 333
Book Description
Proceedings of a conference held in Dec. 2007 at St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minn.
Kierkegaard's Dancing Tax Collector
Author: Sheridan Hough
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191060518
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 192
Book Description
Kierkegaard's account of the life of faith turns on an astonishing claim: a person living faithfully continually enjoys, and takes part in, everything. What can this assertion actually mean? The pseudonymous author of Fear and Trembling, Johannes de silentio, imagines what such a human being might look like; indeed, as de silentio puts it, 'He looks just like a tax collector'. This seemingly ordinary person, in his 'movements' of faith, finds infinite significance and an absorbing joy in his environment, from moment to moment. How does he do it? This characterization of faithful comportment is unique in the Kierkegaardian corpus, and becomes the tantalizing centerpiece of an exploration of the Kierkegaardian self. Sheridan Hough embarks on a groundbreaking 'existential/ phenomenological' investigation of the uncanny abilities of the faithful life through an analysis of Kierkegaard's 'spheres of existence'; each sphere reveals a specific kind of significance, and indeed a way of 'being in the world'. Hough employs a distinctively original narrative voice, one that examines Kierkegaard's ontology from the perspective of his pseudonymous voices, and from the characters that they create. This approach is both descriptive and diagnostic: by understanding what someone living out an aesthetic, ethical, or a religious existence seeks to achieve, the phenomenon of the faithful life, and its demands, comes into sharper focus. This faith is not simply some thought about God's greatness-indeed, the 'propositional content' of faith is a central issue of the book. Instead, Hough argues that Kierkegaardian faith is the hallmark of the fullest flowering of a human life, one achieved in ways only hinted at in the demeanor of the cheerful and enigmatic 'tax collector,' an existential task in which 'temporality, finitude is what it is all about'.
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191060518
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 192
Book Description
Kierkegaard's account of the life of faith turns on an astonishing claim: a person living faithfully continually enjoys, and takes part in, everything. What can this assertion actually mean? The pseudonymous author of Fear and Trembling, Johannes de silentio, imagines what such a human being might look like; indeed, as de silentio puts it, 'He looks just like a tax collector'. This seemingly ordinary person, in his 'movements' of faith, finds infinite significance and an absorbing joy in his environment, from moment to moment. How does he do it? This characterization of faithful comportment is unique in the Kierkegaardian corpus, and becomes the tantalizing centerpiece of an exploration of the Kierkegaardian self. Sheridan Hough embarks on a groundbreaking 'existential/ phenomenological' investigation of the uncanny abilities of the faithful life through an analysis of Kierkegaard's 'spheres of existence'; each sphere reveals a specific kind of significance, and indeed a way of 'being in the world'. Hough employs a distinctively original narrative voice, one that examines Kierkegaard's ontology from the perspective of his pseudonymous voices, and from the characters that they create. This approach is both descriptive and diagnostic: by understanding what someone living out an aesthetic, ethical, or a religious existence seeks to achieve, the phenomenon of the faithful life, and its demands, comes into sharper focus. This faith is not simply some thought about God's greatness-indeed, the 'propositional content' of faith is a central issue of the book. Instead, Hough argues that Kierkegaardian faith is the hallmark of the fullest flowering of a human life, one achieved in ways only hinted at in the demeanor of the cheerful and enigmatic 'tax collector,' an existential task in which 'temporality, finitude is what it is all about'.
Kierkegaard and His Danish Contemporaries: Philosophy, politics and social theory
Author: Jon Bartley Stewart
Publisher: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.
ISBN: 9780754668725
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 354
Book Description
The present volume features articles that employ source-work research in order to explore the individual Danish sources of Kierkegaard's thought. The volume is divided into three tomes in order to cover the different fields of influence.Tome I is dedicated to exploring the sources that fall under the rubrics, Philosophy, Politics and Social Theory. With regard to philosophy, Kierkegaard read the works of all the foremost Danish thinkers of the time and their German antecedents, in particular Cont, Schilling and Hegel. While he was sympathetic to individual ideas offered by this tradition, he was generally keen to criticise the German model of philosophy and to propose a new paradigm for philosophical thought that was more in tune with lived existence. Kierkegaard also experienced the dynamic period in history that saw the great upheavals throughout Europe in connection with the revolutions of 1848 and the First Schleswig War. While it has long been claimed that Kierkegaard was not interested in politics, recent research supports a quite different picture. To be sure, he cannot be regarded as a political scientist or social theorist in a traditional sense, but he was nonetheless engaged in the issues of his day, and in his works one can certainly find material that can be insightful for the fields of politics and social theory.
Publisher: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.
ISBN: 9780754668725
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 354
Book Description
The present volume features articles that employ source-work research in order to explore the individual Danish sources of Kierkegaard's thought. The volume is divided into three tomes in order to cover the different fields of influence.Tome I is dedicated to exploring the sources that fall under the rubrics, Philosophy, Politics and Social Theory. With regard to philosophy, Kierkegaard read the works of all the foremost Danish thinkers of the time and their German antecedents, in particular Cont, Schilling and Hegel. While he was sympathetic to individual ideas offered by this tradition, he was generally keen to criticise the German model of philosophy and to propose a new paradigm for philosophical thought that was more in tune with lived existence. Kierkegaard also experienced the dynamic period in history that saw the great upheavals throughout Europe in connection with the revolutions of 1848 and the First Schleswig War. While it has long been claimed that Kierkegaard was not interested in politics, recent research supports a quite different picture. To be sure, he cannot be regarded as a political scientist or social theorist in a traditional sense, but he was nonetheless engaged in the issues of his day, and in his works one can certainly find material that can be insightful for the fields of politics and social theory.
Kierkegaard and the Self Before God
Author: Simon D. Podmore
Publisher: Indiana University Press
ISBN: 0253222826
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 281
Book Description
Simon D. Podmore claims that becoming a self before God is both a divine gift and an anxious obligation. Before we can know God, or ourselves, we must come to a moment of recognition. How this comes to be, as well as the terms of such acknowledgment, are worked out in Podmore's powerful new reading of Kierkegaard. As he gives full consideration to Kierkegaard's writings, Podmore explores themes such as despair, anxiety, melancholy, and spiritual trial, and how they are broken by the triumph of faith, forgiveness, and the love of God. He confronts the abyss between the self and the divine in order to understand how we can come to know ourselves in relation to a God who is apparently so wholly Other.
Publisher: Indiana University Press
ISBN: 0253222826
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 281
Book Description
Simon D. Podmore claims that becoming a self before God is both a divine gift and an anxious obligation. Before we can know God, or ourselves, we must come to a moment of recognition. How this comes to be, as well as the terms of such acknowledgment, are worked out in Podmore's powerful new reading of Kierkegaard. As he gives full consideration to Kierkegaard's writings, Podmore explores themes such as despair, anxiety, melancholy, and spiritual trial, and how they are broken by the triumph of faith, forgiveness, and the love of God. He confronts the abyss between the self and the divine in order to understand how we can come to know ourselves in relation to a God who is apparently so wholly Other.