Soren Aaby Kierkegaard (1813-1855) was born in Copenhagen, Denmark and exhibited from an early age the depression and insecurity that would plague him his entire life. He studied theology at the University of Copenhagen, graduating in 1840, but was never ordained. Most of his life was spent writing existential works that stressed the necessity of a moral life and the “otherness” of God. His best-known work, Either-Or, was an anonymously published debate between ethical and aesthetic ideas. In his last years, he wrote works that argued against the theology and practice of the Danish state church on the grounds that religion is for the individual soul and is to be separated absolutely from the state and the world.
Impact: Kierkegaard’s existential writings greatly influenced the Neo-orthodox theologians of the early twentieth century.