Kierkegaard's 'Works of Love': A Critical Guide

Kierkegaard's Works of Love, published in 1847, is considered a monumental text on love from one of the nineteenth century's greatest thinkers. It considers different types of love including Christian love and love of God, as well as love of a parent, a spouse, and a friend. It was initially considered austere and unrewarding as a philosophical and religious text, but is now being appraised more appreciatively from a diverse range of perspectives. The essays in this Critical Guide engage with Kierkegaard's unique view of love and expand upon topics including duty, virtue, selfhood, friendship, authenticity, God, hermeneutics, environmentalism, politics, justice, self-righteousness, despair, equality, commitment, sociality, and meaning in life. Drawing on both analytic and continental European traditions, they revisit the vexed and contested questions of this book and demonstrate its continuing relevance and importance to present-day debates.