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Work #183 · Late (after the pseudonymous works; the major direct theological work)

Works of Love

Søren Kierkegaard
1847 (published under his own name, not pseudonymous) · Danish
Theological-philosophical meditation in two series · Danish religious existentialism

"You shall love your neighbour" — Kierkegaard's sustained meditation on Christian love as commanded, neighbourly, and concretely actualised

Attribute Fingerprint

Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.

Attribute Works of Love (Late (after the pseudonymous works; the major direct theological work))
Time · Extent Infinite
Time · Ontological Status Substantival
Time · Grain Continuous
Time · Freedom Non-Deterministic
Time · Traversability Linear
Time · Dimensionality One
Time · Direction Uni-directional
Space · Extent Infinite
Space · Ontological Status Substantival
Space · Curvature Flat
Space · Dimensionality Three
Space · Locality Local
Matter · Extent Infinite
Matter · Ontological Status Substantival
Matter · Conservation Conserved
Matter · Dimensionality Three
Matter · Locality Local
Observer · Time Instance Single
Observer · Space Instance Single
Observer · Knowledge Extent Partial
Observer · Knowledge Retainment Total
Observer · Physicality Embodied
Observer · Agency Both
Observer · Number Plural
Observer · Metaphysical Agency Personal
Observer · Moral Authority Scripture
Observer · Theological Method
Energy · Extent Infinite
Energy · Ontological Status Substantival
Energy · Conservation Conserved
Energy · Dispersibility Irreversible
Information · Ontological Status Substantival
Information · Cosmic Conservation Conserved
Information · Personal Conservation Conserved
Information · Granularity Continuous

Dimension-by-Dimension Evidence

What each work's passages reveal about its stance on each of the six dimensions.

Time

Works of Love

Eternity's present in time — love, properly understood, has the structure of the eternal breaking into temporal Christian life.

Space

Works of Love

The concrete embodied space of the neighbour relation; love is realised in actual proximity and encounter.

Matter

Works of Love

Embodied human life as the site of Christian love; the body of the neighbour as the concrete object of love.

Observer

Works of Love

The Christian believer, called to love each particular neighbour; plural, embodied, both active in love and passive in receiving the love-command.

Energy

Works of Love

The energy of Christian love — empowered by grace, irreducible to natural affection or preference.

Information

Works of Love

Love's works are preserved in eternity; the concrete history of Christian love is taken up into the eternal life of God.

Internal Tensions

Where each work's argument pulls against itself.

Works of Love

Theodor Adorno famously criticised Works of Love for its abstraction from political-social realities — love-of-neighbour becomes ideological cover for avoiding structural change. K. E. Løgstrup's "The Ethical Demand" (1956) develops a Danish phenomenology of trust that is partly an alternative to Kierkegaard. Recent Kierkegaard scholarship (Ferreira, Pattison, Walsh) has argued that Works of Love is more politically engaged than Adorno allowed. The book's relation to twentieth-century Christian social ethics is a continuing scholarly question.