Kierkegaard on the beneficial yoke of suffering

Abstract

The paper deals with Kierkegaard[s account of human suffering which is a variant of theodicy. Its main thesis is that, according to Kierkegaard, God brings suffering only to those that he loves. His position is quite radical and challenging, also because at the same time his main staring point is the belief that God is love. The author explains Kierkegaard[s position by referring to his understanding of love, obedience, faith and bliss. His aim is to show its complexity, but at the same time intelligibility when understood in the framework of Christian grammar, and to distinguish it from too simplistic understandings in the sense of God’s pedagogy.