There are countless Kierkegaard courses, tutorials, articles available online, but for some, having a book is still a necessity to learn. This is an up-to-date list of recommended books.
- The Essential Kierkegaard (2000)
- Either/Or: A Fragment of Life (Penguin Classics) (1992)
- Works of Love (Harper Perennial Modern Thought) (2009)
- Fear and Trembling (Penguin Classics) (1986)
- The Concept of Anxiety: A Simple Psychologically Oriented Deliberation in View of the Dogmatic Problem of Hereditary Sin (2015)
- Kierkegaard’s Writings, XXII, Volume 22: The Point of View (2009)
- The Sickness Unto Death: A Christian Psychological Exposition For Upbuilding And Awakening (Kierkegaard’s Writings, Vol 19) (v. 19) (1983)
- Provocations: Spiritual Writings of Kierkegaard (2014)
- A Kierkegaard Anthology (1973)
- Philosophical Fragments/Johannes Climacus : Kierkegaard’s Writings, Vol 7 (1985)
- The Sickness unto Death: A Christian Psychological Exposition of Edification & Awakening by Anti-Climacus (Penguin Classics) (1989)
- The Lily of the Field and the Bird of the Air: Three Godly Discourses (2018)
The Essential Kierkegaard (2000)
This is the most comprehensive anthology of Søren Kierkegaard’s works ever assembled in English. Drawn from the volumes of Princeton’s authoritative Kierkegaard’s Writings series by editors Howard and Edna Hong, the selections represent every major aspect of Kierkegaard’s extraordinary career.
Either/Or: A Fragment of Life (Penguin Classics) (1992)
In Either/Or, using the voices of two characters—the aesthetic young man of part one, called simply “A,” and the ethical Judge Vilhelm of the second section—Kierkegaard reflects upon the search for a meaningful existence, contemplating subjects as diverse as Mozart, drama, boredom, and, in the famous Seducer’s Diary, the cynical seduction and ultimate rejection of a young, beautiful woman.
Works of Love (Harper Perennial Modern Thought) (2009)
One of Soren Kierkegaard’s most important writings, Works of Love is a profound examination of the human heart, in which the great philosopher conducts the reader into the inmost secrets of Love.
Fear and Trembling (Penguin Classics) (1986)
Writing under the pseudonym of “Johannes de silentio,” Kierkegaard expounds his personal view of religion through a discussion of the scene in Genesis in which Abraham prepares to sacrifice his son Isaac at God’s command. Believing Abraham’s unreserved obedience to be the essential leap of faith needed to make a full commitment to his religion, Kierkegaard himself made great sacrifices in order to dedicate his life entirely to his philosophy and to God.
The Concept of Anxiety: A Simple Psychologically Oriented Deliberation in View of the Dogmatic Problem of Hereditary Sin (2015)
The first new translation of Kierkegaard’s masterwork in a generation brings to vivid life this essential work of modern philosophy.Brilliantly synthesizing human insights with Christian dogma, Soren Kierkegaard presented, in 1844, The Concept of Anxiety as a landmark “psychological deliberation,” suggesting that our only hope in overcoming anxiety was not through “powder and pills” but by embracing it with open arms.
Kierkegaard’s Writings, XXII, Volume 22: The Point of View (2009)
As a spiritual autobiography, Kierkegaard’s The Point of View for My Work as an Author stands among such great works as Augustine’s Confessions and Newman’s Apologia pro Vita Sua. Yet Point of View is neither a confession nor a defense; it is an author’s story of a lifetime of writing, his understanding of the maze of greatly varied works that make up his oeuvre. Upon the imminent publication of the second edition of Either/Or, Kierkegaard again intended to cease writing.
The Sickness Unto Death: A Christian Psychological Exposition For Upbuilding And Awakening (Kierkegaard’s Writings, Vol 19) (v. 19) (1983)
A companion piece to The Concept of Anxiety, this work continues Søren Kierkegaard’s radical and comprehensive analysis of human nature in a spectrum of possibilities of existence. Present here is a remarkable combination of the insight of the poet and the contemplation of the philosopher.
Provocations: Spiritual Writings of Kierkegaard (2014)
from Kierkegaard’s prodigious output: his famously cantankerous (yet wryly humorous) attacks on what he calls the “mediocre shell” of conventional Christianity, his brilliantly pithy parables, his wise (and witty) sayings. Most significantly, it brings to a new generation a man whose writings pare away the fluff of modern spirituality to reveal the basics of the Christ-centered life: decisiveness, obedience, and recognition of the truth.
A Kierkegaard Anthology (1973)
This anthology covers the whole of Kierkegaard’s literary career. The selections range from the terse epigrams of the Journal through the famous “Diary of the Seducer” and the “Banquet” scene, in which Søren Kierkegaard reveals his great lyric and dramatic gifts, on to the philosophical and psychological works of his maturity.
Philosophical Fragments/Johannes Climacus : Kierkegaard’s Writings, Vol 7 (1985)
This volume contains a new translation, with a historical introduction by the translators, of two works written under the pseudonym Johannes Climacus. Through Climacus, Kierkegaard contrasts the paradoxes of Christianity with Greek and modern philosophical thinking.
The Sickness unto Death: A Christian Psychological Exposition of Edification & Awakening by Anti-Climacus (Penguin Classics) (1989)
Writing under the pseudonym Anti-Climacus, Kierkegaard explores the concept of “despair,” alerting readers to the diversity of ways in which they may be described as living in this state of bleak abandonment—including some that may seem just the opposite—and offering a much-discussed formula for the eradication of despair.
The Lily of the Field and the Bird of the Air: Three Godly Discourses (2018)
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells his followers to let go of earthly concerns by considering the lilies of the field and the birds of the air. Søren Kierkegaard’s short masterpiece on this famous gospel passage draws out its vital lessons for readers in a rapidly modernizing and secularizing world.
Best Kierkegaard Books: The Ultimate Collection
We highly recommend you to buy all paper or e-books in a legal way, for example, on Amazon. But sometimes it might be a need to dig deeper beyond the shiny book cover. Before making a purchase, you can visit resources like Library Genesis and download some kierkegaard books mentioned below at your own risk. Once again, we do not host any illegal or copyrighted files, but simply give our visitors a choice and hope they will make a wise decision.
Lovers in Essence: A Kierkegaardian Defense of Romantic Love
Author(s): Sharon Krishek
ID: 3215246, Publisher: Oxford University Press, Year: 2022, Size: 1 Mb, Format: pdf
Deleuze, Kierkegaard and the Ethics of Selfhood
Author(s): Andrew M. Jampol-Petzinger
ID: 3336061, Publisher: Edinburgh University Press, Year: 2022, Size: 711 Kb, Format: pdf
Recovering Christian Character: The Psychological Wisdom of Søren Kierkegaard
Author(s): Robert C. Roberts
ID: 3414089, Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Year: 2022, Size: 1 Mb, Format: epub
Please note that this booklist is not absolute. Some books are truly record-breakers according to The Wall Street Journal, others are composed by unknown writers. On top of that, you can always find additional tutorials and courses on Coursera, Udemy or edX, for example. Are there any other relevant links you could recommend? Leave a comment if you have any feedback on the list.