Library News & Events

Biannual Lecture Series in honor of Kierkegaard Scholar Julia Watkin.

When: Wednesday, May 14, 2025 from 10:30 AM – 11:45 AM (Minnesota) / 17.30 – 18.45 (Aarhus)

Where: Virtual Event via ZOOM (Join Zoom Meeting: https://stolaf.zoom.us/j/98764574239)

Who: Claudia Welz, Professor of Ethics and Philosophy of Religion, Aarhus University

Title: “Where’s the Archimedean Point? Kierkegaard on Existential Orientation in Life Crises”

Abstract: Orientation is a movement from confusion to clarity, both in terms of cognition and action. Yet how precisely can we achieve clarity in enormously complex situations of local and global crises? This lecture categorizes various modalities of existential orientation, zooms in on religious orientation in relation to God, and examines Kierkegaard’s testimony of an Archimedean point by which the individual can move heaven and earth: How does that operation work?

Mark Wrathall will lead our Utech Seminars during KSI 2025! Please see here fore more details.

Where: Regents 290, St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minnesota

When:

Seminar 1: 2:00-4:00pm on Tuesday, July 22

Title: “Time, Eternity, and the Moment: Kierkegaard and the Temporality of Existence”

Seminar 2: 2:00-4:00pm on Wednesday, July 23

Title: “Kierkegaardian Temporality and 20^th Century Phenomenologies of Time”

This annual lecture series is held in honor of St. Olaf College alum George W. Utech, ’53 and made possible by a generous donation from the Utech family. With this endowed lectureship, we bring a world renown scholar to the Library each summer to deliver two public lectures on campus and to engage with Research Fellows attending our Kierkegaard Summer Institute.

The Tenth International Kierkegaard Conference will be hosted by the Kierkegaard Library from June 15-19, 2026. The conference theme is “Readings of Kierkegaard.” For more information please see the Call for Papers here.

We invite you to join a conference titled “Kierkegaard in Brazil: A Fragment,” which hosts several Brazilian Kierkegaard scholars in seminar and discussion. Coordinated by HKL fellows Victor Fernandes and Presley Martins, this is an exciting hybrid conference opportunity happening March 17 and 18. See flier below for details and topics.

The Kierkegaard Library is pleased to announce the publication of the first issue of our journal, The International Journal of Kierkegaard Research (IJKR).

This issue features peer-reviewed articles, a selected student submission, book reviews, and an invited contribution. We are thrilled to work with such a wide range of contributors, from graduate students to senior scholars.

Please take a look at our website to learn about our history and read this issue. We thank you for your support!

We are delighted to share the “Kierkegaard in Copenhagen: Walking Tour” with you.

This guide allows you to explore Kierkegaard’s Denmark from your home, or you can use it to lead an exploration throughout beautiful Copenhagen, as well as Northern Zealand. K. Brian Söderquist solicited the help of St. Olaf student, Madeline Altman ’25, to develop an interactive map of Kierkegaard’s life. It consists of 31 sites that contextualize the life and work of the Danish thinker. Each map location includes photos and background information on its importance, as well as quotes and references to Kierkegaard’s related work.

Explore this resource for yourself: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/1a8a28d1d78b41dba284f29683e82d00

Biannual Lecture Series in honor of Kierkegaard Scholar Julia Watkin. See here for more details.

When: Tuesday, November 12, 2024 from 11:30 AM – 12:30 PM CST (Minnesota) / 18:30-19:30 CET (Slovakia)

Where: Virtual Event via ZOOM (recording)

Who: Jon Stewart, Institute of Philosophy, Slovak Academy of Sciences

What: “The Enigma of Adler’s Revelation“

Lucas Lazzaretti will present a talk, titled “The Daemon of Negativity in Kierkegaard”. See here for more details.

When: Wednesday, October 30, 2024 from 5:00-6:00pm

Where: Buntrock Commons 012 Viking Theater

This event is co-sponsored by the Enduring Questions program.

St. Olaf student Haylee Johnson will present on her Kierkegaard research project.

When: Wednesday, October 17 from 3:30-4:30pm

Where: Steensland Hall (lower level)

What: “The Art of Kierkegaardian Deception: The Engagement as Embodiment of Authorial Method”

Annual banquet sponsored by the Friends of the Kierkegaard Library.

When: Wednesday, October 16th from 6:00-8:00pm

Where: Buntrock Commons 210 Trollhaugen

Who: Dr. Maxwell Parlin (Fall 2024 HKL Advance Research Fellow) will present a talk titled “Kierkegaard and Dostoevsky on Heaven and Earth” and our Summer 2024 CURI students will present their research projects.

2024 Internal Seminars were led by the following Kierkegaard Summer Institute (KSI) Research Fellows:

6.7.2024 – Jeff Matheson led a seminar on the topic of Kierkegaard’s Fear and Trembling.

6.14.2024 – Suzan ten Heuw led a seminar on the topic of “Kierkegaard’s Thinking About the Self in Light of His Relation to Fichte.”

6.21.2024 – Noah Valdez led a seminar on the topic of “Nemo contra deum nisi deus ipse: Or, Kierkegaard, Schmitt, and the Closure of the Problem of Political Theology.”

7.5.2024 – Z Quanbeck led a seminar on the topic of “Doubt’s Despair: Kierkegaard on Moral Responsibility for Believing.”

7.10.2024 – David Heckerl led a seminar on the topic of “Vouching for the Unconditional.”

7.12.2024 – Christopher Nelson led a seminar on the topic of “This disastrous confusion of politics and Christianity,” Revisited, Again.

7.19.2024 – Presley Martins led a seminar on the topic of “Faith, Love, and Hope in the Valley of Shadow and Death: A Kierkegaardian Existential Perspective.”

7.26.2024 – Wendy Hao Wang led a seminar on the topic of “Stephen Mulhall on Kierkegaard and Wittgenstein: Analogical Nonsense and Living the Great Riddle of Our Life.”

Utech Seminar Title: On the Truth of Truth: Exploring Kierkegaard’s Epistemological Anarchism

Speaker: Begonya Saez Tajafuerce, Associate Professor of Philosophy at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

Thursday, June 27 (2:00 – 4:00 pm) Seminar session I: A Kind of Magic: Irony and Image on Display

Friday June 28 (2:00 – 4:00 pm) Seminar session II: The Image of the Self or Kierkegaard as an Illusion

Location: Regents 290

March 19, 2024

Embracing Uniqueness: Finding and Loving Your “Essential” Self and Contribution

Speaker: Deidre Green, Assistant Professor, Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, CA

4:00 pm CDT on ZOOM

April 11, 2024

Self-Development is Not a Sin: The Christian’s Calling to Selfhood

Speaker: Deidre Green, Assistant Professor, Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, CA

11:30 am – 12:30 pm ZOOM

May 9, 2024

Engendering Joy: Kierkegaard as Catalyst for Overcoming Complacency

Speaker: Deidre Green, Assistant Professor, Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, CA

7:00 pm, Sun Ballroom, Buntrock Commons, St. Olaf

Learn more about the lecture series.

Learn more about the lecture series. 

March 13-15, 2024: 8:00-12:00 CDT (Minnesota) / 14.00-18.00 CET (Copenhagen) via ZOOM

Learn more about the event.

View our past speakers and lecture topics, as well as select recordings. Events date back to 2006.

The Ninth International Kierkegaard Conference was virtually hosted by the Hong Kierkegaard Library from May 6-8, 2022. 26 speakers delivered lectures and led discussion on a wide range of topics, addressing the conference’s theme: “Kierkegaardian perceptions and prescriptive on mental health issues”.

View the conference’s program here.  

The Eighth International Kierkegaard Conference was hosted by the Hong Kierkegaard Library at St. Olaf College from June 13 to 17, 2018. Speakers addressed the topic, “The Wisdom of Kierkegaard: What Existential Lessons have you Learned from Him?”.

Read more about the conference.