SKC Project Seminar

Presley H. Martins

(Federal University of Juiz de Fora, Brazil)

"Within the Tomb of Lazarus: Kierkegaard’s Perspective on Death and Hope"

Kierkegaard begins one of his most famous works, The Sickness Unto Death, with a short reflection on Lazarus's death. What draws his attention are the reasons why Christ is resurrecting Lazarus seeing that he would eventually die again. The Death of Lazarus is located in John 11:1, and it is the point of departure for Kierkegaard’s work on despair, that is, the sickness unto death. The fact that Kierkegaard starts his work with Lazarus’ story is not arbitrary. On the contrary, Lazarus’ resurrection plays a significant role in the book. The first questions that arise in this context are: 1) what is the relationship between death and despair?  What is the meaning of the resurrection in light of the fact that Lazarus sooner or later will die again? And once death is something inevitable in life, how can we think about hope knowing that we will lose our loved ones? The main purpose of this presentation is to give an existential reading for The Death of Lazarus in line with Kierkegaard’s considerations about despair. Besides, in order to clarify the posited questions, I will take into account a careful reading of John 11:1 together with the main concepts of The Sickness Unto Death, as well as other important concepts from other Kierkegaard’s works.