This volume explores a number of instances of unexpected but influential readings of the Bible in popular culture, literature, film, music and politics. The argument in all of them is that the effects of the Bible continues to have an effect on contemporary culture in ways that may surprise and sometimes dismay both religious and secular groups. That the Bible was at one time chained in churches is true. The subversive misreading of this enchainment as a symbol of a book in captivity to the established church is hard to suppress, however. Yet, once released from these chains, the Bible proves to be a text that gets everywhere and which undergoes surprising and sometimes contradictory metamorphoses. The pious advocates of making the Bible accessible who sought to free it from the churches' chains are the very people who then decry some of the results when the Bible is free to roam.

"Hugh Pyper's contribution to the study of Kierkegaard is exceptional This is a book to read and re-read many times, and will be welcomed by students, teachers, and researchers at all levels." - George Pattison, University of Oxford "Kierkegaard had an intimate familiarity with the Biblical writings and the Bible is everywhere written into his authorship. Hugh Pyper's book aims to make this point manifest. He argues provocatively and persuasively that Kierkegaard's philosophical and ethical thought is the result of his confrontation with Biblical texts and that the entire authorship points toward the scandalous but life-enhancing good news proclaimed in the Bible." - Niels Jorgen Cappelorn, Sen Kierkegaard Research Centre Foundation, Copenhagen "Hugh Pyper has been taking notes on Kierkegaard for decades. Rigorously argued and elegantly written, this is a book that both the Kierkegaard scholar and novice will want to absorb." - Gordon Marino, St Olaf College, Minnesota "Pyper's offering is often as imaginative, profound and, at times, as refreshingly bizarre as Kierkegaard himself." - Liverpool Hope Theological Book Review In contrast to the popular image of Kierkegaard as the gloomy Dane, these essays argue that joy is at the heart of Kierkegaards enterprise. He is in the true sense an evangelist, seeking to bring the joy of the truth of Christianity to those who persist in misunderstanding it as either a moral code or as one philosophical option. A central tenet of this book is that Kierkegaards most original thought arises from his struggle with biblical passages that he found puzzling or offensive. The seminal psychology of belief and doubt in his work is born out of his attempt to comprehend the exceptional experiences of biblical characters. His understanding of his own authorship is also founded on biblical models. The Joy of Kierkegaard contains previously unpublished work as well as making available in a convenient form scattered published essays. Described by George Pattison, Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity at Oxford University, as fiercely original and, often pointedly, humorous, the essays draw on the expertise of a biblical scholar to convey the joy to be found in reading Kierkegaard, as well as the joy which underpins Kierkegaards profound explorations of spiritual alienation.

"Hugh Pyper's contribution to the study of Kierkegaard is exceptional This is a book to read and re-read many times, and will be welcomed by students, teachers, and researchers at all levels." - George Pattison, University of Oxford "Kierkegaard had an intimate familiarity with the Biblical writings and the Bible is everywhere written into his authorship. Hugh Pyper's book aims to make this point manifest. He argues provocatively and persuasively that Kierkegaard's philosophical and ethical thought is the result of his confrontation with Biblical texts and that the entire authorship points toward the scandalous but life-enhancing good news proclaimed in the Bible." - Niels Jorgen Cappelorn, Sen Kierkegaard Research Centre Foundation, Copenhagen "Hugh Pyper has been taking notes on Kierkegaard for decades. Rigorously argued and elegantly written, this is a book that both the Kierkegaard scholar and novice will want to absorb." - Gordon Marino, St Olaf College, Minnesota "Pyper's offering is often as imaginative, profound and, at times, as refreshingly bizarre as Kierkegaard himself." - Liverpool Hope Theological Book Review In contrast to the popular image of Kierkegaard as the gloomy Dane, these essays argue that joy is at the heart of Kierkegaards enterprise. He is in the true sense an evangelist, seeking to bring the joy of the truth of Christianity to those who persist in misunderstanding it as either a moral code or as one philosophical option. A central tenet of this book is that Kierkegaards most original thought arises from his struggle with biblical passages that he found puzzling or offensive. The seminal psychology of belief and doubt in his work is born out of his attempt to comprehend the exceptional experiences of biblical characters. His understanding of his own authorship is also founded on biblical models. The Joy of Kierkegaard contains previously unpublished work as well as making available in a convenient form scattered published essays. Described by George Pattison, Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity at Oxford University, as fiercely original and, often pointedly, humorous, the essays draw on the expertise of a biblical scholar to convey the joy to be found in reading Kierkegaard, as well as the joy which underpins Kierkegaards profound explorations of spiritual alienation.

This volume explores a number of instances of unexpected but influential readings of the Bible in popular culture, literature, film, music and politics. The argument in all of them is that the effects of the Bible continues to have an effect on contemporary culture in ways that may surprise and sometimes dismay both religious and secular groups. That the Bible was at one time chained in churches is true. The subversive misreading of this enchainment as a symbol of a book in captivity to the established church is hard to suppress, however. Yet, once released from these chains, the Bible proves to be a text that gets everywhere and which undergoes surprising and sometimes contradictory metamorphoses. The pious advocates of making the Bible accessible who sought to free it from the churches' chains are the very people who then decry some of the results when the Bible is free to roam.