Editors’ Introduction

Dear Readers,

Below you will find the 2025 issue of the International Journal of Kierkegaard Research (IJKR), a double-blind, peer-reviewed, open-access journal, founded in 2024. The IJKR is both a continuation and transformation of the Hong Kierkegaard Library’s Søren Kierkegaard Newsletter, which prior to 2023 published articles in Kierkegaard studies for over 40 years. Last year, we brought the publication to a new scholarly platform in order to promote further reach and access through libraries, databases, and virtual portals, and we introduced the valuable process of peer-refereeing. Meanwhile, we recommitted to the original Newsletter’s mission of promoting diverse perspectives from a global research community. Importantly, we also forefronted the pedagogical aims of the journal, through both what we publish and how we engage our authors, potential contributors, and readers.

The IJKR finds its home in the Hong Kierkegaard Library, a Research and Publication Center, which welcomes students and scholars from around the world to access its resources and join a vibrant research community. Each summer, the Kierkegaard Summer Institute at the Kierkegaard Library hosts approximately forty or fifty visitors from about fifteen countries. The mission of the Library and the journal are linked: the IJKR aims to provide a platform for the fruits of this rich research opportunity.

This second issue of the International Journal of Kierkegaard Research shows growth, as well as continuity, in relation to our first issue, which landed in December 2024. One year later, our peer-reviewed section has now grown from four to five articles. Each approaches central Kierkegaardian themes and questions from a variety of disciplines and philosophical traditions: the 2025 issue includes work by Alexander Jech, Marius Timmann Mjaaland, James P. Rasmussen, Anthony Rudd, and Michael Steinmetz, and we are happy once again to feature one excellent student article, this year by Joshua Griffiths. In this issue, we also present a special talk delivered by the President of the Søren Kierkegaard Society (SKS), USA, Michael Strawser, at the SKS banquet during the American Academy of Religion’s Annual Meeting in San Diego in November 2024. Our book reviews section has grown from two to four articles, enabling us to bring attention to notable new publications in the field. Please see the “Notes on Contributors” for more information on the contributors to this issue.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank both Manifold and St. Olaf College for hosting our publication. We especially value the open-access format permitted by Manifold’s platform and mission. Articles are available to anyone on Manifold’s website, where they can also be downloaded—individually, or the issue as a whole—as PDFs.

We would also like to thank our peer reviewers for their meticulous refereeing, for helping to guarantee the quality of our publications, and for promoting our educational and supportive vision. Likewise, we are grateful to the members of our advisory board for promoting and believing in the journal. Special thanks go to our peer-review coordinator and copyeditor, Colleen O'Reilly, for her professionalism, organizational acumen, and insightful approach to our shared work. Finally, we are grateful to you, our readers and contributors, for your scholarship and engagement.

Sincerely,

The Editors
Frances Maughan-Brown, Philosophy Department, College of the Holy Cross
Anna Louise Strelis Söderquist, The Hong Kierkegaard Library, St. Olaf College
Elizabeth Xiao-An Li, Søren Kierkegaard Research Centre, University of Copenhagen