The George Utech Memorial Series is an annual two-day, intensive seminar led by an expert in the field of Kierkegaard studies. It is made possible by a generous donation from the Utech family in honor of St. Olaf College alum and Kierkegaard enthusiast , George W. Utech ’53.
The Utech Seminars are held in person on St. Olaf’s campus during the Kierkegaard Summer Institute.
Below is information on past seminar leaders and topics.
2025 – Mark Wrathall, University of Oxford
July 22: “Time, Eternity, and the Moment: Kierkegaard and the Temporality of Existence”
July 23: “Kierkegaardian Temporality and 20th Century Phenomenologies of Time”
More information here.
2024 – Begonya Saya Tajafuerce, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
“On the Truth of Truth: Exploring Kierkegaard’s Epistemological Anarchism”
June 27: “A Kind of Magic: Irony and Image on Display”
June 28: “The Image of the Self of Kierkegaard as an Illusion”
More information here.
2023 – Iben Damgaard, Søren Kierkegaard Research Centre, University of Copenhagen
June 13 & 15: “The question of dignity and recognition in Kierkegaard’s Works of Love”
2022 – Roe Fremstedal, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
June 23rd: “Kierkegaard’s ‘Naked Abstract Self’: Minimal, Transcendental, Ironic, or Narrative Self?”
July 27th: “Kierkegaard on Faith and Reason”
2021 – Sharon Krishek, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
“Kierkegaardian Selfhood and Romantic Love”: July 7 Recording & July 8 Recording
2020 – Clare Carlisle, King’s College, London
“Kierkegaard: Writing a Life”
2019 – Jacob Howland, University of Tulsa, Oklahoma
“Kierkegaard Reflections on The Sickness unto Death”
2017 – Patrick Stokes, Deakin University
“Consciousness, Reflection, and Subjectivity”: Part 1 and Part 2
2016 – Vincent McCarthy, Saint Joseph’s University, Pennsylvania
Day 1: “Kierkegaard and Psychology before Psychology”
Day 2: “Did Heidegger Plagiarize Kierkegaard?”
2015 – Poul Lübcke
“Aesthetics, Religion, and the Crisis of Metaphysics”
2014 – Lee Barrett, Lancaster Theological Seminary, Pennsylvania
“St. Augustine and Kierkegaard”
2013 – Richard Crouter, Carleton College, Minnesota
“Schleiermacher and the Persistence of Romanticism”
2012 – John Davenport, Professor of Philosophy at Fordham University, New York
June 27: “Narrative Identity in Kierkegaard: Recent Debates”
June 28: “Existential Faith in Fear and Trembling, Postscript, and Repetition: The Eschatological Interpretation”
2011 – Jon Stewart, Institute of Philosophy, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Slovakia
July 5: “Kierkegaard’s Notion of Appropriation and the Criticism of Hegelian Abstraction”
July 6: “Kierkegaard and Hegel on Faith and Knowledge”
2010 – Ed Mooney, Professor at Syracuse University, New York
“Approaches to Kierkegaard”