Christianity & Existentialism
Kierkegaard: The Christian Existentialist and the Leap of Faith
Existentialism is often traced back to a devout Christian: Soren Kierkegaard. Long before Sartre or Camus, he insisted that truth about how to live must be lived from the inside, in passionate commitment, not held at arm's length. For him this led not away from God but toward him, in what is popularly called the leap of faith. Here is the striking common ground between existentialism and Christian faith, and where the paths part.
The existentialist who believed
Kierkegaard, writing in the 1840s, is widely regarded as the father of existentialism, yet he was a searching, self-critical Christian. He attacked comfortable, nominal religion and 'the crowd,' and insisted that faith is not a set of doctrines you inspect from a safe distance but a passionate, personal venture of the whole self. He did not think God could be reached by proofs; belief required risk.
This is the root of what is popularly called the 'leap of faith': not a leap in the dark against evidence, but a wholehearted commitment made where certainty is not available, the way one commits to a marriage or a life's work. Kierkegaard took doubt and freedom as seriously as any later existentialist, and still chose faith.
What Christians believe
Christianity has always known that faith is more than intellectual assent; it is trust, a personal staking of oneself on God. Kierkegaard's honesty about risk echoes the Bible's own language of faith as confidence in what cannot yet be seen.
Where we agree
Here existentialism and Christianity meet more than they part. Kierkegaard is right that inherited, second-hand religion is nearly worthless, that truth about how to live must be lived, and that faith involves the whole passionate self, not just the intellect. Christianity says the same.
Where we differ
Later atheistic existentialists kept Kierkegaard's emphasis on radical choice but dropped his God, so the leap becomes a leap into self-made meaning. Kierkegaard's own leap was toward a God he believed was really there and had drawn near in Christ. The two leaps go in opposite directions, and which is warranted is worth examining.
Existentialist sources are quoted and attributed in the text: Jean-Paul Sartre (Existentialism is a Humanism, 1946), Albert Camus (The Myth of Sisyphus, 1942), and Soren Kierkegaard (The Concept of Anxiety; Concluding Unscientific Postscript). We aim to represent each thinker accurately and in their own terms. Bible: King James Version.
Frequently asked questions
- Was Kierkegaard a Christian?
- Yes, a passionate and self-critical one. Often called the father of existentialism, Soren Kierkegaard fiercely criticized comfortable, nominal Christianity precisely because he took genuine faith so seriously. His existential themes led him toward God, not away.
- What is the 'leap of faith'?
- It is the popular name for Kierkegaard's idea that faith is a wholehearted personal commitment made where objective certainty is not available. He wrote that 'without risk there is no faith.' It is not belief against evidence, but trust ventured amid uncertainty.
- Where do Christianity and existentialism agree?
- Especially in Kierkegaard: that inherited, second-hand belief is nearly worthless, that truth about living must be lived from the inside, and that faith engages the whole passionate self. They differ on whether the 'leap' lands in a real God or in self-made meaning.
Come and see, and choose freely
Existentialism prizes an honest, first-hand encounter over inherited answers. In that spirit, the most honest way to weigh Christianity is to read Jesus for yourself and see whether his account of freedom and meaning rings true. No belief is required to read it.
Read the Gospel of JohnKierkegaard: the Christian existentialistWhy Jesus?