SKC Project Seminar: Johanne S.T. Kristensen

(University of Copenhagen, Denmark)

"The Issue of Anxiety: Wolfhart Pannenberg’s Reception of Søren Kierkegaard”

In Wolfhart Pannenberg’s theology, theological anthropology is a central topic, in the sense that it not only penetrates all the other topics, but also informs the very approach or method of his theology. Pannenberg’s theological anthropology is the implicit precondition of his program, without which it would not exist. At this seminar, I will present Pannenberg’s conception of sin as a perversion of the human relation to God, self, and world and reflect on the methodological consequences of this perversion. This I will do in regard to Pannenberg’s reception and criticism of Søren Kierkegaard‘s concept of anxiety and the broader theological debate on method. Finally, I hope we can discuss the phenomenon and concept of anxiety as this concerns the relationship between systematic theology, phenomenology, and psychoanalysis and the ever-relevant issue of theology as faith seeking – or, according to Pannenberg, rather showing – understanding.