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This episode dives deep into the restless brilliance of Søren Kierkegaard — the 19th-century philosopher, outsider theologian, and reluctant father of both existentialism and Christian authenticity. If you've ever doubted the plastic gods, burned out on hollow church talk, or longed for a faith that costs something real, Kierkegaard was speaking to you.

We explore:

• The Self as a Task

• “The self is a relation that relates itself to itself.”
  You’re not born yourself, you become yourself, and only through brutal honesty, dread, and surrender.

• Truth is Subjectivity

• “Subjectivity is truth. Truth is subjectivity.”
  Faith is not a system of answers; it is an inward passion, lived, suffered, and chosen without guarantees.

• The Leap of Faith

• Faith is not irrational, but it transcends reason.
  You don’t arrive at faith by deduction, you leap, trembling, into paradox.

• The Knight of Faith vs. the Knight of Infinite Resignation

• The knight of resignation gives everything up. The knight of faith believes he’ll receive it back, impossibly, through God.
  It's the difference between giving up and giving over.

• The Sickness Unto Death: Despair

• “The greatest hazard of all, losing one’s self, can occur so quietly.”
  Despair is not feeling bad, it’s not becoming who you truly are before God.

• Attack Upon Christendom

• “The greatest danger to Christianity is… the pretend Christian.”
  Kierkegaard savaged the church of his day for being socially safe, polite, and fake, what he called “playing at Christianity.”

• Faith Beyond Certainty

• “Faith begins precisely where thinking leaves off.”
  Kierkegaard invites us not into blind belief but a raw, defiant trust that lives without certainty.

• Authenticity Through Anxiety and Dread

• “Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom.”
  Your terror isn’t a sign something’s wrong — it’s the signal that you’re standing at the edge of becoming.

If you're deconstructing — or have burned down the easy answers — Kierkegaard offers you no comfort… only truth, paradox, and the possibility of becoming real before God.

Contact: [email protected]

Instagram: @subversiveorthodoxy

Host: Travis Mullen Instagram: @manartnation
Co-Host: Robert L. Inchausti, PhD, is Professor Emeritus of English at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, and is the author of numerous books, including Subversive Orthodoxy, Thomas Merton's American Prophecy, The Spitwad Sutras, and Breaking the Cultural Trance. He is, among other things, a Thomas Merton authority, and editor of the Merton books Echoing Silence, Seeds, and The Pocket Thomas Merton. He's a lover of the literature of those who challenge the status quo in various ways, thus, he has had a lifelong fascination with the Beats.
Book by Robert L. Inchausti "Subversive Orthodoxy: Outlaws, Revolutionaries, and Other Christians in Disguise" Published 2005, authorization by the author.
Intro & Outro Music by Noah Johnson & Chavez the Fisherman, all rights reserved.