r/ExistentialChristian

261 archived posts · Sep 2014 – May 2026

Christian Existentialism

A place to discuss Existentialism, Existential Theology, religious variants of Existential thought, and the atheistic crisis inherent in the Christian "leap of faith" and "dark night of the soul".

Created Sep 14, 2014 · restricted

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261Archived posts

You might ask, "How can an existentialism be Christian?" Well, the "father of existentialism" (1840s-50s)—Søren Kierkegaard—was Christian. Over 20 years later another Christian—Dostoyevsky—introduced it into fiction. Not until a generation after Kierkegaard did Nietzsche give us an atheistic existentialism at the same time that Tolstoy was giving us his anarchic Christian existentialism. This can be called the first wave of existentialism (~1840s-1900s).

The second wave of existentialism (~1900s-1930s) was again largely theistic: Shestov, Berdyaev, Jaspers, Rilke, Unamuno, Buber, Heidegger. Atheism makes a cameo in the fiction of Kafka. Psychologist Otto Rank was likely an atheist, but evidence of mysticism leaves the question uncertain.

The third wave (~1930s-60s) had the notable atheists and novelists Camus, Sartre, and de Beauvoir. In the case of the former two, there is disputable evidence of theism within five years of their deaths. Other well-knowns were theistic: Marcel, Weil, Maritain, Frankl, Becker, and Tillich. This era also gave us theistic existentialists whose philosophies reach us somewhat less overtly in their fiction and poetry: Hesse, Kerouac, Percy, O'Connor, Eliot, et al.

When participating, remember that this is an open place. Maintain a generous, curious spirit and a civil tongue, and engage others with humility.

** Past Studies **

The Way of Suffering - Week 2

Concluding Unscientific Postscript

Subjectivity, Irony and the Crisis of Modernity

** Related Subreddits **

r/Existentialism

r/RadicalChristianity

r/OpenChristian

r/Christianity

** Suggested Readings **

Søren Kierkegaard
Introduction: The Truth Is the Way: Kierkegaard's Theologia Viatorum
Anthology: A Kierkegaard Anthology (ed. Bretall)
Anthology: Provocations: Spiritual Writings of Kierkegaard (PDF)
Various free works (online)
Nikolai Berdyaev
The Beginning and the End (online)
Various free works (online)
Anthology: Christian Existentialism (ed. Lowrie)
Miguel de Unamuno
Tragic Sense of Life
Gabriel Marcel
The Philosophy of Existentialism
The Mystery of Being, Vol. 1: Reflection & Mystery
The Mystery of Being, Vol. 2: Faith & Reality
Anthology: A Gabriel Marcel Reader (ed. Sweetman)
Karl Jaspers
Philosophy of Existence
Tragedy Is Not Enough (PDF)
Leo Tolstoy
A Confession (online)
The Death of Ivan Illych (online)
The Kingdom of God is Within You
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Notes from Underground
House of the Dead (online)
Demons (online)
The Brothers Karamazov
Arthur McGill
Death and Life
Paul Tillich
A History of Christian Thought
Simone Weil
Awaiting God
Gravity and Grace
Gateway to God
Jerome Miller
The Way of Suffering: A Geography of Crisis
Richard Beck (blog)
The Slavery of Death
Lev Shestov
Kierkegaard & The Existential Philosophy (online)
Various free works (online)

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