On Kierkegaard and the Truth: 1 (Paul L. Holmer Papers)

Paul L. Holmer (1916-2004) was Professor of Philosophy at the University of Minnesota (1946-1960) and Noah Porter Professor of Philosophical Theology at Yale Divinity School (1960-1987). Among his many acomplishments Holmer was one of the most significant American students of Kierkegaard of his generation. Although written in the 1950s and 1960s Holmers theological and philosophical engagement with Kierkegaard challenges much in the contemporary scholarly discussions of this important thinker. Unlike many Holmer refuses reductionist readings that tie Kierkegaard to any particular school. He likewise criticizes biographical readings of Kierkegaard much in vogue recently seeing Kierkegaard rather as an indirect communicator aiming at his readers own ethical and religious capacities. Holmer also rejects popular existentialist readings of Kierkegaard seeing him as an analyzer of concepts while at the same time denying that he is a crypto-analyst. Holmer criticizes the attempt to construe Kierkegaard as a didactic religious thinker appreciating Kierkegaards cool descriptive objectivity and his ironic and stylistic virtuosity. In his important reading of Kierkegaard on truth Holmer pits Kierkegaard against those who see truth empiricallyidealistically or relativistically. Holmers carefully textured account of Kierkegaards conceptual grammar of truth in ethical and religious contexts fifty years after it was penned addresses immediately current discussions of truth meaning reference and realism versus antirealism relativism and hermeneutics. It will be of great interest to all interested in Kierkegaard and his importance for contemporary theology and philosophy.