The becoming of a virtual God: Kierkegaard in the post-theological horizon

Abstract

After centuries of theological subordination and subjective alienation, Modern Philosophy began to recover itself and set free the world from the crushing weight of the patriarchal God. It did so by two eminently modern elements, namely: absolute immanence and subjective freedom. The decisive turning point towards immanence is established by absolute Idealism and crystallized in the Hegelian philosophy of religion, whose discussion split the Hegelian School in right and left wing. Kierkegaard’s thinking emerges in the context of this post-Hegelian discussion and its position remains ambiguous between Hegel’s right and left. To Kierkegaardian subjectivity goes back the “religion without religion” of French post-structuralism, as well as the post-theological atheism of the new speculative turn. In this paper, I will try a brief reading on the way in which religious consciousness has progressed from the most abstract transcendence to the most radical immanence. In this process, Kierkegaard will be our guide and referent.